Solstice
by jshai
Summary: It's been 95 years since the Cullen's left Forks. What'll happen now that they are back and is the vampire world ready for the demise of the Volturi?
1. Chapter 1: Welcome Home

Solstice

Chapter 1

The sun was nowhere to be found, hiding behind the grey clouds that covered the sky. Good old, dependable Forks. It's been 95 years since I left with my family. 95 years was a long time to be gone away from home, but when you're a vampire, 95 years is nothing. My parents, for all intents and purposes, Carlisle and Esme travelled ahead of time to our old home in the woods to prepare the house. I couldn't believe it still stood, somehow untouched, like us. When I chuckled at this thought, Edward, my husband looked at me with his crooked smile.

"What's so funny," he asked as he slid his hand from the steering wheel to hold mine. After all this time, the touch of his skin still excited me.

"Nothing," I replied. "It's just funny that after all this time, we've come full circle, is all." At that moment, I turned my head to see our sleeping daughter in the backseat. Renesmee. There was no other love that I felt could ever compare to Edward, than what I felt for her. She was very like me in regards to having chocolate brown eyes and long wavy brown hair, but that's where the similarities ended. She looked most like Edward.

"I know what you mean. I just wonder how she'll handle being back in Forks." I was shocked that he had said this, it was as if he could read my mind. Well, actually Edward could read thoughts, just not mine. I too was worried for Renesmee. This marked the first time we'd be back to Forks since Jacob's death, which naturally she did not handle well. My best friend, her husband, loved her till the day he died. Though he was a werewolf and did not age as other humans did, eventually he did age, but he was adamant not to be turned into a vampire. It was hard on Renesmee and me, but we respected his wishes. Edward even went as far to check Jake's mind everyday to double check for any doubt, but there wasn't any.

"I'm worried too, but Renesmee is strong and she'll be able to handle it. After all, most of her memories of Forks were from when she was an infant, her memory isn't as collective as ours." Renesmee was two when we moved away but at the time she looked about 4. Now at the age of 97 (ha-ha) she could pass for 17. "But maybe it'll be good for her, you know change in scenery and people?" One can hope right?

"Maybe," was all my husband could say before his phone chirped. "Alice?" Without meaning to, I listened as Alice was describing a vision she just had.

"Edward, you and Bella shouldn't worry about anything, Renesmee will be fine on Monday. It's a little fuzzy wuzzy, but it looks like she might meet someone at school!!" Gahh!! Stupid vampires with their active powers. Though my power as a shield has come in handy a few times, still nothing seemed to compare to having the ability to see the future or read minds.

Alice and her husband were following us in Alice's car, a yellow Lamborghini Murcielago. At some point in time, Alice got tired of her yellow Porsche and got the Lamborghini. She liked the Murcielago 'cause it meant bat in Spanish.

Behind her my adopted sister Rosalie followed in her Bugatti Veyron. I love my sister dearly but her and her ostentatious cars attract a lot of attention. While we were living in Germany Rose fell in love with the car and of course wanted one. At first, the auto makers resisted her pleas but she finally convinced them to make a replica of the Pur Sang version. It's French for "pure blood," so she saw it fitting. Of course Rose got it in red. I do have to admit, the car did have the appearance of a vampire car, it was virtually indestructible with its pure aluminum-carbon fibre body and the wheels had a diamond cut finish.

The meaning of their cars were a bit much, but our family saw it as a private joke. Much like calling ourselves vegetarians.

Emmett of course stayed with an off road vehicle, but instead of a Jeep, he followed Rosalie in a Range Rover Sport Supercharged.

My husband loved his silver cars and opted to buy a Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG. He liked it cause it was more "family friendly." I always thought that was hilarious considering our daughter was old enough to have her own vehicle. But there was no telling Edward anything else, though he truly was right. Can you see the faces that the other students would make if we pulled up in Rose's car?

"What's got you so far away?" My husband whispered to me as I was looking out of the window. Judging from the green blur that was passing by, I figured we going 120 miles per hour. Hmmm, we're slowing down, we must be almost home.

"Nothing, just itching to do some riding." Edward was towing my vehicle, if you want to call it that, ha-ha. I drove a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle. Jacob taught me how to ride when I was a fragile human and it's been my favorite hobby since. Oh I miss Jake.

Edward looked at me peculiarly, it still bothers him that he can't read my mind. "You sure? Are you thirsty?" When I shook my head, he seemed satisfied. "Do you want me to pull over? You can unhitch you bike and ride the rest of the way." Excitement filled my entire being at thought of riding in the rain. Edward pulled over and in a tenth of a second I was out the door and set free my bike.

In frustration or eagerness, Emmett pulled up alongside Edward and asked, "What's the hold up, bro?"

"Hey Emmett, I'll race ya!" And with that I was gone, Emmett looked stunned for only a second before he caught on. I could hear him right behind me but I was not going to let him get ahead. The rain and wind whipped my hair around and I couldn't help but laugh at the exhilaration that I felt. I was glad I wasn't around Jasper because I was sure he would use his power to suck some of the excitement out of me. All the emotions I was feeling at the moment would have been overkill for him.

I turned down the familiar path and Emmett was still behind me but he seemed to be gaining. Grrrrr, Rosalie and her car tuning. I wouldn't be surprised if she supercharged an already supercharged car. But then again, I wasn't even going full throttle, so I hunched myself over to be more aero dynamical with the bike and pressed forward. I loved being a vampire.

I pulled up to the house in first place of course, as my siblings and family came trailing in behind me. "Ha!" I called out to Emmett as I hopped of and walked over to Edward and Renesmee. In that short period of time, I missed my family.

"No fair. I want a rematch!" I love him dearly but he can be so simple sometimes. All he thinks about is racing, wrestling, sports, and Rose. So predictable.

"Agghhh, Bells you should of just let him win. Now we have to listen to him complaining about losing and wanting a rematch." Alice was always right, dang that lil pixie.

Edward bent over to give me a kiss and brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. Renesmee was just closing the door when Esme and Carlisle stepped outside to greet their children.

"Ok, guys, we need to have a meeting." Carlisle spoke with the authority of a parent. Well I guess he should, since he's been doing this for over a century or two. I don't know why I was finding everything amusing today. "So be in the dining room after you get settled in your rooms. Let's say ten minutes?" He looked around and when he saw no objections, he turned around into the house. No doubt he was headed to his study.

Esme walked down the steps and gave me a hug. She loved each of us but everyone knew that Edward was the favorite. One day though, Edward told me in confidence that I was her favorite. Once I came into his life, he became alive, and for that Esme would always be grateful that I showed Edward how to love. If I could've cried for one moment in my life, well existence, it would have been that moment.

"Are you going to be okay, dear?" She asked. Oh my loving Esme.

"I think so. For a change I'm actually excited about starting high school again." I made a face that any teenager would give when thinking about school. "I'm hoping that it'll take my mind off of everything."

We all knew it would be hard for Renesmee to be so close to the Quileute reservation that she and Jacob used to call home, but I didn't think any of them realized how hard it might be for me. Charlie, my human father, died 35 years after we left Forks. I couldn't go to the funeral for a number of reasons. One the obvious being since I was a vampire, I was eternally 18 years old. There was no amount of plastic surgery someone could fake at the age of 53 and still look 18. Ha-ha. Another reason was also obvious, but as a human, naturally I had a lot of human friends. Charlie was the one who came up with the idea of me faking my death. The official story was while away at college, Edward and me were mugged and I was stabbed with a knife.

I thought it was a bit morbid, but Charlie thought it was best and Edward of all people agreed. I found it a bit uncomfortable laying in the coffin as people paraded around my "corpse." It didn't matter to me that I had to lay there unmoving and not breathe, 'cause hello, vampire! It was uncomfortable because again I was the center of attention. People looked at me and commenting how peaceful and beautiful I looked. I remember Angela Weber's father was the priest that officiated my "funeral," and he said how saddened he was that, "not two years prior I was the officiant of her wedding to her loving husband, Edward Cullen." The only thing I found amusing was trying to keep my composure when Mike Newton passed. Emmett had mentioned beforehand that he thought it would be funny if when he passed by the coffin, I opened my eyes. Ha-ha, I should of but didn't.

I missed Charlie but I knew we all loved Forks and it was my idea to come back. Forks, was our home.

Rose and Emmett weren't going to high school with us so they built a house a little closer to the infamous clearing. I shuddered thinking about it, so many tragic things happened in that clearing: James, Victoria, the Volturi. Since they weren't staying at the main house, Renesmee wanted to stay in their room. Me and Edward decided to run to our cottage, Esme said she fixed it up for us, and we were excited to see our little place.

He grabbed my hand and we ran all the way to the cottage. It was like we never left. Esme did her wonders with the place. Renesmee's room was no longer the nursery, as we had left it. Just in case she wanted to spend a few nights with her stuffy old parents, Esme replaced the crib with a King sized bed and painted the entire room yellow, Renesmee's favorite color. There were specks of orange throughout the painted walls. Walking on the sun was probably the effect that Esme was going for. I reminded myself to tell Renesmee to come visit the cottage so she can see what her grandmother did for her.

There was very little that Esme needed to redo in our room, though it smelled as if she repainted recently. Yup the paint was still wet. Isle Esme was the theme. White and tan and bright and cozy, I loved the senses it brought to me. Edward brought me to closer to him and the bed. "We still have eight minutes before the meeting, Love." There goes that crooked smile I love. He was right we needed some alone time.


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting

Chapter 2

As we headed back to the main house, I couldn't help but think how lucky I am. There aren't too many people in the world that get everything they wanted, but I was one of those people. We walked into the dining room, it seemed this was our favorite room to conduct meetings.

"Well, now that we're all here," Carlisle said with a smile and cleared his throat. I suspected he did that out of habit, we didn't need to actually clear our throats of anything. "There are a few things that I felt that we needed to go over before everyone gets into routine." Every time we make a move, Carlisle likes to have this meeting. The information rarely changes, but nonetheless, he liked to make sure that our stories were the same.

"Okay, Jasper, as all of you know, throughout the years, has maintained a relationship with ' firm." I remembered . I met him what seemed like ages ago when I thought my family was about to be destroyed by the Volturi. Edward was shocked at my sadness the one day that Jasper mentioned that J. Jenks had died of a heart attack and the business was passed down to his associate. I secretly wondered if Jasper had caused that heart attack. He tended to scare J. Jenks to no end. Since his death, the firm has changed hands with several different people. All of whom tried not to appear curious at the long term relationship that the firm had established with the mysterious Cullen's long before J. Jenks. "All of the necessary paperwork for our five students has been faxed to Forks High School."

Jasper pulled out an envelope and started passing the contents around. We each received our licenses and passports all stating that we were now residents of the state of Washington. When he got to Renesmee, he handed her an i.d. and she started jumping up and down.

"I guess she noticed that she's legally able to drive," Emmett snorted. In the past Renesmee was Edward's younger sister, and even when she "came of age," Edward still refused to let her drive to school. I finally convinced him otherwise.

"Now we need to talk about relationships. Edward and Renesmee you will be twins with the last name Cullen of course." It always pained me that Renesmee looked more like Edward than me, for once I would like to go as her sister, but the duo looked too much alike, it was uncanny. "Bella, I know normally you like to use Swan as your last name, but considering that Swan was a major name in Forks history, I didn't think you'd mind being called Isabella Masen." I smiled knowing I was using Edward's birth name. "Alice of course your last name will be Brandon and Jasper you will be Hale. All of you will start the year as sophomores."

Esme chuckled at this, she wasn't old enough to have five children in their sophomore year in high school. Granted the story was she and Carlisle adopted us and she was more than old enough to have kids in high school, she just didn't look it.

It took less than a second for me to realize that all of a sudden, I was feeling an extra boost of contentment, and confidence. As I looked over to Jasper, he cracked a slight smile in my direction but he was looking at Edward. I saw Edward nod at Jasper and knew they were having a mental conversation. I knew that I would find out what that was about sooner rather than later, I turned my attention back to Carlisle.

"We know from past history that our presence in Forks triggers the transformation of the Quileute tribe into wolves." Ahh there it is, Jasper was using his power to keep me and Renesmee collected. Thank God, for his talent. "Now before we left, Sam Uley, Jacob Black and myself were able to re-draw the treaty. Though we are still forbidden to hunt on their lands, we may now go onto the reservation as we are considered friends of the pack." I grabbed Renesmee's hand at the mention of Jake's name. We both loved him very much, of course she loved him more. Using her power, Renesmee let me know that she was ok.

"In preparation for us moving back, I contacted the Elders of the Quileute tribe to let them know that we were returning. They are expected to visit with us within a few weeks once the Alpha has been established." Carlisle sat down to signify that his portion of the meeting was concluded.

The rest of the meeting didn't last much longer. Everyone mainly talked about how excited they were to be back in Forks. Even Rosalie, which surprised me. Eventually we all started trickling out of the house to hunt, except for Esme and Carlisle, they hunted before we arrived. Alice thought it was a good idea if the boys separated from the girls for our hunting, so Rose, Alice, Renesmee and myself took off towards the East.

Running through the forest was so relaxing. Although being half vampire and half human, made Renesmee faster than any human, she still wasn't as fast as a vampire, so we slowed our pace down so she could keep up. All four of us came to a complete stop, as we caught whiff of something so delicious and meaty. Mountain Lion.

We made our way to a small break in the forest. It was a beautiful mixture of greens and flowers in different colors. Except for the river separating it, the field almost looked like our meadow. As soon as we broke through into the clearing, the four of us immediately split up and herded the pack of mountain lion. I didn't even know they moved in a pack, but there they were. The thirst took over and I drained two mountain lions before Alice finished her one. I didn't realize I was so thirsty.

Once we were done with our hunt me and Renesmee hung back and took our time getting to the house. I wanted some alone time with my daughter.

"Mom, I'm really ok, you and daddy and everyone else, don't have to baby me." As she shrugged, her curls bounced from her shoulders.

"I know dear, it's just, we know how hurt you were when you had to lose Jacob. I above everyone else understands more because just like you became a zombie when Jake left, I was once one when your father left me once. Only, I know your pain is deeper because Jake isn't coming back." It hurt me just to say it, and I felt I had another moment that I thought I would cry.

"I know it was difficult for you guys to watch me during that period, but with him dying, it seemed I lost more than half of me. But you guys comforted me, and I'll be forever grateful to my family. But really, I'm okay." It was at that moment that Renesmee placed her hand on my head and showed me all of her thoughts, and feelings that she was holding onto. She showed me her many happy times with Jake from the moment that she was born. Every memory she had of him, her first prom, their wedding, the college years, then she showed me a few of the times when Jake got sick. This was especially hard to watch because I still remembered it all too well. Her next memories included her mourning and learning how to let go and cope. And with these memories, I felt her feelings from that time. I felt the hurt and pain slowly but surely subsiding. My daughter was ready to move on.

I nodded to let her know I understood and she gave me a hug. I didn't have enough time to react to what I saw coming at us out of the corner of my eye. All I could do was brace for it.

"Alice!!" I screamed as we stumbled back. The three of us were entwined now with Alice squeezing us together. ".?" I didn't mean to growl, but somehow I knew what she was going to say next.

"Nessie, Bella," she gleamed like the Cheshire Cat, "We're going shopping!!"


	3. Chapter 3: The First Day

Chapter 3

A/N: I noticed that I forgot to mention that I don't own any of these characters, that's all Stephanie Meyer.

Also, as of right now, I have no plans of changing the story from Bella's POV. Hope you enjoy!!

It was Monday morning and me and Edward decided it was time to head up to the house to get everyone together for school. Esme greeted us in the kitchen since she was cooking Renesmee breakfast. With all the years that she spent with Jacob on the reservation, Renesmee ate more human food than she did animals. Edward was pleased with this, the thought of his daughter hunting still made him nervous.

I started to sit down on the tall bar stool when I heard Renesmee stirring awake. I could hear her slowly walk to the bathroom and start the shower. I wanted to go upstairs and help her pick something out to wear, but Edward grabbed my arm and sat me back down. "Unless you want Alice to give you a makeover, you'll stay down here." I loved it when he was right.

Jasper came downstairs first. After chatting with Edward about the driving arrangements to school, he decided to help Esme with the rest of breakfast for his favorite niece. Soon, Alice and Renesmee bounded down the steps. My daughter looked so gorgeous. Alice dressed her in a black off the shoulder shirt, and bellbottom jeans. Renesmee accessorized with a silver charm bracelet that Jacob made for her years ago and big hoop earrings. Because of the flare in her jeans Renesmee had to wear some really tall black heels.

"Bella!" Alice exclaimed, "Look at you." Her face was twisted in shock and surprise.

I looked down at myself. I thought I did okay. I admit I did get dressed in a hurry but I was grabbed a denim sleeveless dress. It came a few inches above my knees and had buttons that ran down from the bust to where my bellybutton was. The dress was very form fitting. I finished the look off with a matching denim belt, and denim peek-a-boo 4 inch heel shoes. "What, Alice?" I honestly couldn't see what the problem was. The dress was one of my favorite outfits that I bought from yesterday's shopping trip.

I gave a quick glance around the room to see how everyone was reacting. Renesmee simply went to the table and started stuffing food down her throat, while Edward, Jasper, and Esme were laughing. Apparently there was a joke I wasn't in on. "Bella, you look amazing! I'm so proud of you. It seems my keen fashion sense has finally rubbed off on you." It was true I didn't mind Alice's never-ending shopping trips, more often than not, I looked forward to them. "There's just one thing missing," she said as she gathered my hair to one side and wrapped my hair into a side wept ponytail. "There, you're ready now." Alice inspected everyone and once she gave the final okay, we piled into Edward's Mercedes. Since being a vampire I've had 20 first day of high school jitters. They've gotten better with time and now I treat them as if I was Rosalie. Well not so much, I don't revel in the glory like Rose does, but I don't shy away from it either.

Edward of course was driving really fast and within five minutes, I could hear the conversations of all of the students of Forks High School in the parking lot as if we were there already. I could feel Jasper calming us down, though I shook him off. I didn't need it though I could tell that Renesmee was nervous. I watched as he started soothing her with calmness and confidence, and she looked so much better. I looked to Jasper and nodded my head in thanks. Edward parked the car in an open spot in the parking lot, but he didn't turn it off. "Now Renesmee, I know we've been through this before, but remember you must call us by our first names, and don't use your special talents in school."

Renesmee was just too eager to start the day, so as soon as she assured us she would obey, she hopped out the car. The rest of us followed suit, and Edward started scanning the student body for anyone that might be suspicious of us. I let down my shield and asked him if anything stood out. After a moment, he slightly bowed his head and shook it, all the while rubbing his eye like he had something in it. Only I knew that he was telling me no.

We had to act like we didn't know our way to the administrative office, after all this was our first day here. Edward stopped a girl on our way to the buildings, just to play up the charade. I knew immediately that this girl had a innocent mind, otherwise Edward wouldn't have even bothered. "Hello, I am Edward Cullen," he said stepping away from us, he didn't want to overwhelm her. "Would you mind telling me where the admin office is?"

The girl took a hesitant moment as if she was surprised that she was actually being spoken to. Once getting over her shock, she gave him the directions he had requested. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.''

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's Sarah, Sarah Moore." She was so meek and shy. I immediately thought of Angela Weber. She was really the only one of my human friends that I missed. Edward once told me how from time to time he would listen to Jessica Stanley's thoughts and most of them were filled with contempt for me. Sarah was so quiet even saying her name and when she noticed all of us looking at her, she lowered her eyes, but not before she blushed.

As Edward was walking back to us, I saw him crack a slight smile. I was about to ask him what was up but Jasper beat me to it. "What did you hear?" Edward was chuckling to himself as he lifted his arm around me and kissed me on my forehead.

"Nothing, a few girls are shocked that I took the time out of being gorgeous to talk to her. They're debating whether or not to corner her and ask her all types of questions about me," he said as he was still laughing.

We walked silently to the office after that, Edward still had a smile on his face. It was easy for us to know what he was hearing because when he heard something amusing, he'd pull me in tighter for a sweet embrace. If it was something bad we had to listen to him growl.

The administrative office looked the same. The walls were in need of a fresh coat of paint, as it was a icky peeling yellow now. The name plate on the reception desk said Miss Gerbera, and who I could only assume to be Miss Gerbera was sitting behind the desk shuffling papers around. I guess we entered the office a little too quiet because she was startled when she looked up and saw 5 beautiful teenagers standing in front of her.

"Can I help you?" Her heart rate was speeding up and I was now amused as I heard her catching her breath.

"Hi, my name is Alice Brandon, and these are my adoptive siblings, we're new to the school." I was shocked that Alice spoke up, usually Edward did the talking. As if she was reading my mind, Alice answered in a voice too low and fast for humans to hear, "If she heard Edward speak, she was going to faint and hit her head on the desk. It seems our young Miss Gerbera has developed a crush on our Edward." Now it was my turn to chuckle. Edward did seem to have an effect of dazzling people, I've just never seen it to the point that the person actually hurt themselves in the process. Emmett would have loved to see that.

"Oh right, you were registered by Dr. and Mrs. Cullen. Well here are your schedules and map. If you need anything or have any questions, please feel free to stop in. And don't forget to have your teachers sign your slips and return them here at the end of the day." We walked out of the office but I could feel Miss Gerbera's eyes on our backs. "Can you imagine adopting five kids all the same age?" She asked someone that was in the office, "And they all look alike, gorgeous." Of course since we were out of the office, she suspected we were out of hearing range, but all of us heard her.

Alice already told us what our schedules were. For first period, I had Geometry with Jasper and Edward. Alice and Renesmee had Fashion. 2nd period was gym, all of us somehow were together. Third period saw me and Edward in Biology. Jasper and Alice were in English, while Renesmee had Economics. Fourth period was English for me, Edward and Renesmee leaving Biology for Jasper and Alice. Lunch was after that, and again were all together. Spanish was my sixth period class with Alice and Renesmee. Jasper and Edward were in Latin. All of us were in History for seventh period. And the last period of the day found me and Jasper together for Computer Sciences, Edward in music, Renesmee in Biology, and finally Alice in geometry. This was going to be interesting.

It was raining out, so the moss on the trees and buildings looked greener than they normally do. Alice and Renesmee split up from us and headed towards the 2nd building where their fashion class was starting in a few minutes. Me and Edward resisted the urge to hug our daughter before she left. At school, she was my boyfriend's twin sister, not my daughter.

The three of us walked to geometry, in order to look human, Edward and Jasper were joking with each other about jumping Emmett when we got home. I was walking alongside them with my arm around Edward's waist. Nothing special happened in geometry. Edward kept whispering what people were thinking of us while we sat in the back of the class. Our teacher, Mr. Mozilla decided that he wanted to see how competent the three new students were and kept asking us questions, even though we weren't raising our hands. After a few minutes of not stumping us, he gave up and started teaching about triangles.

Gym was pretty much the same, nothing exciting happened. We all kept reminding each other not to use our full strength or speed. People would know something was definitely off if we could throw a ball clear across the gym.

After gym, we went to locker rooms and changed. Next was Biology with Edward so I was excited. We met up outside of the gym and he gave me a long passionate kiss. "Hmmmm, not that I'm complaining, but what was that about?" I smiled dreamingly into his amber eyes.

"You see that guy over there?" Edward asked. I looked and nodded when I saw the boy he was talking about. "Well, when he saw you step out of the locker room, he had some pretty vile fantasies about you. When I looked up at him, his friend started thinking, "Newton is going to get us killed if he doesn't stop leering at her." I gasped as I heard him say the name.

Now that I looked at him again, the kid did have some resemblance to Mike. He had a more athletic build but he had the same pudgy cheeks and blonde hair that Mike had. I was instantly repulsed that him and his great-great grandfather had the same thoughts about me.

We walked to English in silence for the most part. I was thinking of my human life and all the times Mike Newton tried to hook up with me. Edward was no doubt concentrating on the thoughts of all of the teenagers that were in the hallways.

The classroom was pretty much full when we walked in. Renesmee was already talking to two of the girls she met today. Unfortunately, me and Edward would not be sitting together in this class, but as I looked around I saw the seat that I wanted. I walked slightly faster than Edward to sit down next to Sarah. I knew he wouldn't mind when he realized the only other open seat was next to Mike Newton's progeny. I just hoped that _he_ didn't do anything stupid. I didn't want to move away from Forks, we just got here.

"Hi, I'm Bella Masen, you're Sarah Moore, right?"

"Yeah, umm, how did you know my name?" She looked so scared, I felt bad for her.

Crap, I forgot we were standing too far away to actually "hear" the conversation between her and Edward. "You met my boyfriend earlier, Edward Cullen. He told me you were the one that gave us the directions to get to the office."

"Oh, yeah," she seemed satisfied with my explanation and was fine. As scared as she was, I was shocked that she continued a conversation with me until the teacher called the class to order. I glanced over to Edward, to make sure he was okay. I knew sitting next to the Newton kid wasn't going to be easy for him, but he seemed fine. I let my shield down and asked him if he was ok. When he nodded yes in a way only I knew what he was truly doing, I was able to relax.

Sarah kept looking at me out of the corner of her eye. Normally I would have shied away from the attention she was throwing my way but, I now welcomed it. Dang, I really was spending too much time around Rose.

I let down my shield once again, and let Edward know that I loved him and started sending him thoughts about the past few years together with him. I didn't realize how lost in my thoughts I was until Sarah slipped me note. I carefully unfolded it and was horrified at what I read.

"What are you?"


	4. Chapter 4: Visitors

Chapter 4

I quickly collected my composure, and I didn't dare look towards Edward. I didn't even know if he noticed what she must have been thinking. Surely he would have alerted me somehow that something was going on in her head. Right?

I snatched my pen from the table and quickly scribbled, "What do you mean?" I've had all the time in the world to practice if I wanted to but, my handwriting still sucked compared to Edward's.

I thought someone had jump started my heart cause it should be beating a mile a minute while I was waiting for her answer. I took a chance and looked at Sarah, and she glanced back then pursed her lips together as she started writing again. The last seven seconds of my existence were pure agony. Maybe we needed to move after all.

Sarah passed the note back, with a confused look on her face. "Freshman, sophomore…"

Edward started laughing out loud in the middle of class. He cleverly covered it up as if he was sneezing but not til after he received a dirty look from the teacher. I guess I forgot to put my shield back up and he was able to hear both our minds. Oops.

The bell rang at that moment and all of the students started gathering their books. I saw Renesmee look at Edward puzzled before walking out of the door with her friends.

"Oh we're sophomores." I said matter of factly. I remember Edward trying to convince me of his version of the truth the same way when Tyler's van almost crushed me, but I was too perceptive for him then, I only hoped Sarah wasn't now.

"All of you? Wow! And you all live in the same house? Isn't that illegal?" I could only assume she was talking about me and Edward being together.

"Not at all. I'm not related to anyone at the house. Actually none of us are except for Edward and his twin, Renesmee are related. Our parents adopted us. Shortly after me and Edward met, I was umm, emancipated from my family and the Cullens invited me to stay with them." By now we were entering the hallways as students were crowding around the lockers. Sarah no longer stared at me and for that I was relieved.

"Well I'll see you later Bella, I need to go to my locker before lunch." She whispered when she saw Edward waiting for me. She practically ran through the swarm of students, she was quick for a human.

I stood there stunned for a moment when Edward enveloped me in his arms. No I was mad him, I think. I hissed at him and started to walk away.

"Love, what's wrong?" Could he possibly be that stupid? Ha!

"You sat there and let me believe that she knew are secret. Or at least enough to be suspicious of us?" It really wasn't a big deal, I didn't know why I was so angry. I let my shield down because I couldn't seem to control my anger and didn't want to scream at him on the way to lunch.

_Not only did you just sit there, but you also laughed at me. You know could and well that we need to be extra careful in this town and you laugh? You don't know if she has any ties to anyone we once knew and found their old pictures. Swan may have been a big name but Cullen may have been remembered also!_

And with that I slammed my shield and stalked off without him. But two seconds later I realized that he wasn't following me. I instantly felt bad because once I said my peace I was calm. I turned to look at him, and noticed something was off.

Everyone, including my Edward looked dumbfounded for some reason. I walked over to him and waved my hand in front of his eyes to bring him back to focus. It was eerie how his eyes found me, like he hadn't seen me in a while.

"Hun, what happened?" I suddenly found myself scared. It's been a century since I felt even remotely scared, which bothered me even more.

"Bel-Bella, did you do that?"

"Do what?" My heart was racing from anticipation. What was he going on about? I could tell by the furrowed look on his brow that he was in thought about something, or he was listening to someone's thoughts, but what he wasn't sharing with me.

"We need to go to the cafeteria, now." He grabbed my arm in a way that if I was human, my arm would have been in danger of being ripped off, but he didn't hold the grip. He slipped his hand into mine and I covered his with my other hand. Whatever he was thinking of, we would face together.

The rest of my family already found a table. If it wasn't for the urgency, I would have chuckled at the fact that they choose the table I first saw them sitting at over 100 years ago. Leave it to the Cullen's to find a way to turn everything into a private joke.

Everyone had a tray of food in front of them already, Alice even had me and Edward's prop for us. It looks like she knew we were about to have a meeting of sorts.

Renesmee was the only one at the table eating. Ugh, though I was glad she was eating human food more, at least it helped with the appearance of us looking human. Edward was about to speak when a two guys came over to the table.

"Errrr, Carlie?" The one with the sandy blonde hair asked. He looked scared just to be in the same area with us. Renesmee sometimes went by her middle name when we went to school so none of looked shocked. She looked at the two boys that were standing in front of her. "We were just, umm, kind of wondering, if well, if you would like to come sit with our table for lunch?" The second kid had an olive complexion and he pointed to a table where I recognized a few of the kids there. Of course they were gawking because they were looking at us. The vampires. I was amused that the first kid couldn't get his words right speaking to Renesmee. It was like he was meeting her parents for their first date. Hmph, he was technically.

Before she could even answer, "Sure, go ahead Carlie," came out of Edward's mouth. My Edward? My overprotective Edward? Something was definitely up, I've spoken to him about being too protective of Renesmee in the past, but he's never been this easy going with her. Even Renesmee looked confused, but decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth and was instantly gone with her new friends.

"Okay, spill. What is going on? Edward you've been acting weird since we left English." I was speaking very low and fast, but being vampires, I knew everyone heard me. "Now what did you mean when you asked me if I did that? What did I supposedly do?" I was furious that I was in the dark about something.

He looked like he didn't know how to answer but quickly found the words, "Well to answer your second question first," he paused for dramatic effect, I think you somehow caused everyone in the hallway to stop thinking. I noticed it because all of a sudden it was silent, in my head. All of a sudden I couldn't hear anyone's thoughts. For all of five seconds, I was alone in my head, and it happened when you slammed your shield at me." I was confused for a bit but generally took the information in.

"What about my first question?"

Alice wanted to answer that one, but she barely spoke above a whisper. Even I had trouble hearing her.

"The Volturi are coming."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AN: I know this was a short chapter, but I started having trouble with it. I'm going to try to get at lease one more chapter out before this weekend. I'm actually hoping for two more chapters after this one, but I have a lot to do since I'm going to be out of town for the weekend. I won't even have time to write while away, so I'm squeezing that in today. Hope you enjoyed!!!!


	5. Chapter 5:Visions

**AN: Oh jeez you guys are lucky you're not writing this. I want to apologize ahead of time for any errors. I do my best while I'm writing, but like I said last chapter I'm writing in a hurry.**

**I'd love to hear from you if you like the story or even if you don't. Just review, Thanks!!!**

**So without further ado, here's chapter 5...**

Chapter 5

Is it even possible for vampires to freak out? I wanted to hyperventilate but I knew it wouldn't do any good because I don't need to breathe. Grabbing Renesmee was my next course of action, I had to get her out of here. I had to make her safe from the Volturi's plans. Edward, my loving Edward, he had to of been part of their plans as well. I remember Aro extending the invitation for him and Alice to don one of their black robes. I had to make them safe.

Alice started having another vision, I stomped my foot like a toddler and a hiss escaped my lips. Oops too loud, because people started looking around. Suddenly she stopped and stared at Edward. Edward looked horrified as he and Alice seemed to be having a silent conversation. Honestly those two.

"Hey! How about having a conversation in words where everyone else who isn't a telepath or psychic can hear?" I guess Jasper couldn't take my rage anymore because I was calm again. I looked over at him and nodded my head in thanks. Jasper tried to smile back but even his smile was off. What was with everyone today?

"I'm sorry Bella, it's just, well I was having a vision and it stopped. I was hoping Edward saw my vision before it disappeared, but he only saw what I saw."

"Well what did you see?" I could tell that Alice was frantic. She hates it when something interferes with her vision. Going in blind, is not her favorite thing to do, and we were going to need her gift if the Volturi were coming.

"It seems the Volturi have added another vampire to the guard. Apparently her gift is sensing. She can sense the strength a vampire has, and the gift they possess. She can also tell when there is another gift that can be matured. They've only just acquired her, but I saw that if Aro had her beforehand, he would have been here sooner. He wants you Bella."

"Me? Why? He's known I was a shield, why after all this time does he want me?" I was definitely confused. And with everyone in my family protecting me, how did he expect to get to me? Unless he was planning on killing those who meant the most to me? My shield was now down so I rethought my questions to Edward.

"Darling, I think your shield somehow has manifested itself to stop the mental powers of vampires." Edward could see that I was still confused, so he continued his explanation, "See in the hallway, I thought you had stopped everyone around us from thinking. Remember when I told you everyone was silent?" He didn't even wait for me to respond before he spoke again. "Well with that and what I just witnessed with Alice, I think you're the reason her vision stopped so abruptly."

"I was trying to calm you down, before, but I couldn't." Jasper seemed particularly perplexed because he's always had full control over everyone's emotions. "I was even trying to force inappropriate emotions on random people in here and it just wouldn't work."

"Edward, what were you guys doing in the hallway when you noticed that she blocked your power?" Always the strategist, Jasper was generally excited.

"We were sort of arguing, but she let her shield down to yell at me. But the moment she made her point, she slammed it back up and that's when everything went silent."

We were all pondering what the next course of action should be. We knew we needed to see Carlisle, but all of us couldn't leave, it would draw too much suspicion as to why the Cullen's left early on the first day of school. It's always about appearances.

By the end of lunch, we theorized that my shield has progressed into blocking the powers of vampires. We were positive it blocked mental powers, but were unsure about physical. Right now, as I haven't gained control of my newfound gift, I could only use it when I was angry. Through another one of Alice's visions, the timeline for the "visit" wasn't going to be until the summer, so we still had plenty of time to prepare.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We hurriedly handed Miss Gerbera our slips, and ran at human speed to the car. Edward drove at a ridiculous speed, while I sat and stared blankly out of the window. In the backseat, Alice called Carlisle to make sure he was home from the hospital, and Jasper explained our theory to Renesmee. My daughter put her arm on my left shoulder and showed me that she remembered the turmoil the Volturi's last visit had caused me and told me that everything will be okay. I just hope I could believe it.

We arrived home in five minutes and no sooner did you hear the car doors slamming were we in the dining room. We didn't care how fast we moved at home, we loved our house because it was so open, it was the only place we didn't have to hide. Carlisle and Esme were headed down the steps, and Rose and Emmett were already seated at the table when we walked in.

Walking into the room, I remembered that just before the last meeting we had, I was happy that I had everything I could ever want. And now it seemed the Volturi wanted to take it from me.

Yet again, the day's events were told those that didn't go to school. Carlisle looked especially astonished at the theory that we came up with. I couldn't help but chuckle and worry about the barrage of tests he was going to want to run immediately. Carlisle tended to get carried away with tests when a new problem presented itself, and this was a new problem. Regardless of what triggered the maturation of my shield, I needed to be able to control it before the summer. As of right now, there was no telling what the Volturi had planned for my family, so I would put up with his tests.

Carlisle was on the phone with Tanya after our meeting. We wanted to know if Kate would mind coming down. When Kate got on the phone, without giving out too many details, he explained to her that my gift seemed to have expanded and we wanted to see if it included physical gifts. With my hearing, I could tell Kate was just as confused as I was when I first heard of the theory, and I was there.

Everyone drifted into the living room while Carlisle was on the phone. Some game was on and Jasper and Emmett were watching it feverously. Renesmee went to her room because one of her friends let her borrow a CD. Alice was sitting on the loveseat, designing a cute long coat, hmm, I would look great in that. But suddenly she stopped, but it wasn't a vision.

"The werewolves are coming tonight. Everything just went blank."

I was a little worried about the werewolves. Well they weren't exactly werewolves, more like shape shifters, but still. Even though we were considered friends of the pack, some of them still did not like fighting alongside their once mortal enemies. They were dissuaded once Jacob and Renesmee started living on the reservation, and those that once hated us, even became our friends. But still, even I was unsure of the bond between werewolf and Cullen now, after all these years. Would they still fight with us? Then a disturbing thought crossed my mind. What if when the Volturi came, it did turn into a brawl and we lost? What would happen to werewolves? Caius wanted to eradicate them, while Aro had expressed an interest in using them as guard dogs. At that moment, I made the decision the wolves would not fight.

Alice looked at me scared, but since she didn't want to startle anyone, she whispered in a really low voice, "What did you just decide?"

I wanted to make sure that I didn't attract any attention to us, so I simply said, "You know Alice, I have the perfect outfit in my closet that would go great with that coat." I hoped she caught my cue, without giving me away, she did. We walked out of the door casually and as soon as we were out the door, started running towards the cabin.

"You know Bella, we really need to work on your acting skills. I don't know if anyone would even believe that you would volunteer to be my fashion guinea pig, so what's really going on?" I took a moment to be slightly hurt, I honestly sometime liked being a model. Usually when I put up a fight, I do it because everyone expects me to. After living 50 years with this family, I realized that the pixie would when. Why not embrace it.

"Back at the house, I was thinking about what would happen if the Volturi came here to fight, and we lost. I didn't want to drag the wolves into it, Aro and Caius both had plans for them the last time they were here. This isn't their fight, I don't want them here for it." I was very adamant about this and I wanted to make sure my point got across, so I stamped my foot.

"No, that's all wrong Bella, they have to be there. I may not know what the outcome will be, but without them, Bella it's not good." If my heart wasn't already dead, it would've chosen that moment to stop. "I saw you, me, Jasper and Edward and Renesmee in robes standing in between Jane and Demetri. We were wearing black robes." Of course instantly I felt bad for my decision because Alice was dry sobbing at this point. "On the day of the Volturi returning, there is a huge battle, but Demetri is able to get his hands on Renesmee, and is about to kill her, when you scream. It'll be a blood-curdling scream and everything stops. In exchange for her life, you tell Aro you will join the guard if he spared hers and everyone elses. When he ponders the proposal, Caius decides that your life is not valuable enough for the entire Cullen family."

I didn't want to hear any more of what she had to say so I covered my ears with my hands, but it wasn't enough. "Caius says, 'the rest of the family will be spared if me Edward, and Jasper join the guard along with Nessie.' We're not happy but since Carlisle Esme, Rose and Emmett will be safe at the very least, we agree to his terms. But Caius goes back on his word and kills them anyway." I couldn't take it. There was no way I could let that happen. My family was going to be safe no matter what, all of them.

We walked back to the house in silence. But as soon as we jumped over the river, our nostrils were assaulted by a disgusting but familiar scent. Werewolves.


	6. Chapter 6: The Pack

Chapter 6

I was shocked when we got through the door how many people were there. Besides my family, there were eight freakishly large boys standing on the southeast wall of the living room. The one that stood on the end had long, shiny black hair, a baby face, and he was the tallest. He must be the Alpha.

Carlisle stepped into the room behind me and Alice and placed a hand on each of our shoulders. "Well the rest of the family is here, so the meeting can begin."

While scanning the room for my husband, I noticed that Renesmee wasn't there. Edward was seated on the arm of the arm of the couch so I quickly made my way to him. Letting my mind be open to him, I asked where our daughter was.

"She didn't think she could handle being around the wolves just yet, too many memories of Jake," came in the form or a whisper as he bent over to give me a kiss on my forehead.

"Okay, well for the new additions, I guess I will reintroduce ourselves. My name is Bryan Clearwater, I'm one of the elders of the Quileute tribe." Bryan's voice was not the voice I expected from his frail body. It was a booming voice with a hint of a little growl behind his words. "The other elders are here on my right, Alex Black and Chelsea Atera." I smiled when Bryan announced Chelsea, I guess at some point in the lineage, Leah could no longer claim to be the only female werewolf. Alex and Chelsea each stepped forward as their name was called.

"Over here to my left," Bryan continued, "is the pack: David, Justin, Jeremy, Sammie, TJ, Michael, Victor and Taylor. Taylor is the new Alpha, and Victor is his Beta." The two seemed extremely shocked that Bryan revealed Victor's role in the pack.

The tall one, Taylor, took the vampires in and smiled. At least the peace between families hadn't changed. I was instantly glad that Carlisle made sure that we left on good terms with the wolves. Taylor took a moment to size each of us up, and we sized him up right back. The silence in the room was thick but not uncomfortable.

"Alex," I started since I was the first to break the silence. "Your last name is Black. I'm curious as to your relation to Jacob Black. As you are well aware, Jacob is the reason we are no longer enemies." I was always under the impression that in order to be a werewolf within the tribe, one had to be a direct descendant of one. Jacob and Renesmee weren't able to conceive during their time together.

The old man who looked so much like Billy Black, took his time answering. "Yes, my mother's name was Rachel Black, Jacob's sister. Paul, my father, imprinted on her and one night, I was conceived. Unfortunately, shortly before I was born, my father died in a bad car accident. But since they weren't married, my mother kept her last name for mine as well." Alex shifted his weight back and forth as he told his story to me. It seemed as if no matter how much we were friends to the pack, some wolves and elders would still be uncomfortable with us. "Taylor here is my son."

I gasped, but instantly this made sense to me. Any lineage of werewolf that was mixed with the Black blood had to be powerful. In his own right Jake was a massive beast, and Alpha of his own tribe. But here stood his great-nephew, following in his footsteps and standing considerably taller over his other wolf counterparts. I couldn't believe it, though he wasn't a direct descendant, here was a connection to Jacob. I was complete, I was home.

At this revelation, Edward warmed up even more to Taylor, in fact everyone seemed more relaxed as it was. Even Alex, took part in joking with everyone, and telling stories. Though it was getting late, none of us seemed to care while we were in each other's company. Taylor and the other wolves excused themselves from the conversation, since many of the pack still had school in the morning. Chelsea was the least outspoken person in the room, but even she seemed to enjoy herself. At some point the conversation shifted, and Esme made a slight nod to Edward. At that, moment he left my side and ran upstairs in a hurry. With my hearing I could hear him telling Renesmee that she needed to come downstairs now.

Edward was soon at my side again, and Renesmee sat on the ottoman at my feet. Without thinking I started twirling her curls, my curls, in my hair. Carlisle cleared his throat before beginning, "I am sure that the previous elders told you the stories of the battles that our two families have fought side by side." Of course he was mentioning when Victoria created her army and then the visit with the Volturi. "The last time was when the judges of our kind came to destroy us based on false accusations, and though it did not come to a battle, your people stood strong beside us; to which, we will forever be grateful." He stole a glance at Renesmee and cracked a slight smile. "But I am afraid that we may need to trouble you for your services again."

Unaware of what was going on, Renesmee sat up straight with panic.

The elders continued to sit quietly with no other reaction other than just wonder. "What is this danger that you speak of?" Alex asked after a few moments of consideration.

"Well as you are aware, some vampires have natural abilities," Edward continued. "I have the ability to read minds, my brother can control emotions, and my wife has the ability to act as a shield to other powers. But recently we've seen that her gift, as we call it, has grown."

There was a slight murmur amongst the elders, and Renesmee now looked at me confused. She grabbed my hand and using her ability, asked me is this about the Volturi. I didn't mean to sigh when I gave a nod, yes.

"Shields are most defined by being defensive items of war, but not many people have seen them in action as an offensive tool as well. I believe that now Bella's gift has expanded to become offensive as well." Edward took some time to explain how we discovered my gift by accident today at school.

Carlisle decided it was his turn to continue the conversation, "My daughter, Alice, was using her ability to see the future and noticed that the Volturi were coming back for another visit. This time it seems they are hell bent on destroying our family. They feel that they can no longer allow us to remain alive, because of the power we have collectively. Coupled with a vampire that can sense the gifts of other vampires, they know that Bella has a new ability that can be used in their favor to make them more powerful in return. As of now it seems that they are not preparing to arrive until the summer. I am afraid that during this reunion, I am asking you and your tribe to fight with us, once more."

Carlisle's words hung heavy in the air as the elders that stayed, contemplated the request. I understood why Carlisle was hesitant to ask the wolves to fight again. The first time it was to protect me from a psychotic vampire, the second time to protect Renesmee from the Volturi. Granted those times, we had a relationship with them, however strained, we knew those wolves. I already loved them, and the Cullens, including Rosalie, grew to love them as well. These wolves we didn't know and I still thought it was unfair to ask them to join this fight.

"I believe that this Volturi, as you call them, are coming to attack a family that resides within our territory. It is our mission to protect Forks and its inhabitants, including the Cullens. We will remain at your side." The soft-spoken Chelsea said with such authority that there didn't seem to be any reason for a debate. The two other elders simply nodded and all three stood to leave. "We will confer with the Alpha of the Pack, and he will be in contact with you for training."

Though none of us needed to, we all sighed with relief. Once again the wolves were putting their lives on the line for a fight that wasn't theirs. Suddenly I felt a draft come from the front door, as Taylor walked back into the house.

"Father, the rest of them are home sleep, I brought that truck back to take you and the rest home." He said in one breath. Bryan patted him on his waist as he could not reach any higher for his shoulder.

"Such a good son I--" Bryan stopped suddenly. I twisted my neck to see what caught his attention. He was smiling at his son, but why? I glanced sideways at Taylor who was enthralled with Renesmee. My Renesmee. He imprinted.


	7. Chapter 7: Evidence

Chapter 7

I couldn't believe it! Was it possible for two werewolves to imprint on the same person? Well I guess technically, if Nessie wasn't half vampire, Jake would have been her only imprint. I didn't know how I felt about Nessie imprinting with another vampire. I looked over at my daughter. She was standing tall, her brown ringlets were cropped in a messy ponytail. Her pouty lips were pulled into a smile, she knew what was happening. Of course she would, she felt it once with Jake, and now with his great nephew. This was too weird.

"This is some freaky weird stuff," Emmett said in between chuckles. For a second I thought he was the one that could read minds. Rosalie simply slapped him upside the head to shut him up, but he continued, "Nah seriously, aren't you like Jacob's nephew?" Everyone just sucked their breath in as they realized that not just any random vampire imprinted on Renesmee, but Jacob's descendant.

"You are?" That's right, I forgot Nessie wasn't downstairs for the introductions. Her eyes got bigger as she started putting things together in her head. Her smile, just like her eyes were getting bigger as well.

Once her smile widened, Taylor smiled even bigger, as if he was smiling with his heart. It was in that instance I saw it, Taylor was an exact replica of Jacob. I don't know how I didn't notice it before or why no one else did, but the hair, the eyes, and even the smile, it was Jacob. I looked over at Carlisle and I could have sworn that he saw the same thing at the same exact moment I did. Everyone kind of just stood there in the middle of the foyer silently.

"Well," Bryan started. He seemed to be the go to person for breaking the silence tonight. "Taylor, I know you and Renesmee have much to discuss, but perhaps it can wait until tomorrow. It is rather late now, and I know this dear has school in the morning." Bryan of course was right. Renesmee did have school and unlike the rest of us, she needed sleep.

Taylor understood what his father was saying but couldn't quite get his feet to agree. He looked as if he'd be happy just standing there looking at Renesmee. I couldn't blame him, she is gorgeous.

"Dad, mom? Is it alright if Taylor picks me up from school tomorrow?" Renesmee asked. At the prospect, Taylor's eyes got even bigger. Is that possible?

I looked at Edward. I didn't have a problem with it, but you never know with Edward. He has a tendency to be overprotective of me and Renesmee even when we don't need it. He simply nodded his head and told them that they had a lot to talk about and can do it then. I went over to him and put my arm around his waist and he bent over and kissed me on my cheek. Our daughter was happy again.

Bryan and the elders finally were able to get Taylor out the house and after I listened to the truck drive away, I told Edward to go ahead to the cottage. I wanted to talk to Renesmee.

We walked at a slow, excruciating pace, but I didn't mind so much since I was spending it with my greatest equation. There was no love that I had to offer that was greater than my love for Renesmee. No, not even Edward, simply because she was a combination of our love. She was our symbol beyond words. She was our miracle.

"So, how do you feel about this?" I couldn't help be curious about her feelings. Afterall, she tried to build a family with Jacob, but for whatever reason they couldn't. Now many years later she's in love with his nephew.

"Well mom, to be honest, it's a little weird. Not because he's related to Jacob. But, because after all this time, I never thought I'd find someone to love quite like I did with Jacob. But what I'm starting to feel for Taylor, it just feels right. You know?" I put my arm around her shoulders since I could see she was struggling a little bit with her words. "The fact that he has a tie to Jacob, mom, it just makes the story a bit better."

At that moment, I knew she was right. Nessie was fine. Once we got to the house, Nessie went straight to bed. I walked into our bedroom and laid down next to Edward. He held my hand in his and kissed me. Oh if only I could dream again, I would have fallen asleep in his arms if I could that second. But before we knew it, the sun started peeking through the tree bank so we disentangled ourselves from each other and started getting ready for school. Nessie woke up on her own and she too was getting ready in her room. She was humming as she was going through her closet.

Today I chose an extra bold shirt. It was black and very form fitting, with cutout along the side and the sleeves. I kept the rest of my outfit simple with dark rinse jeans and black boots. Edward looked at me like he wanted to rip my clothes off right that moment. So just to tease him, I left my shield down and told him that I was all his for later.

"Why wait till later," he asked while smiling that crooked smile. He pushed me on the bed and climbed on top of me. Since the only skin that was available without taking my shirt off was my neck, he started kissing me there and I moaned under his weight.

"Ewww gross, I did not just walk in on my parents making out!" Renesmee muttered. "It's time to go," she said as she got over it and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I couldn't resist, I wanted to know.

"Uncle Emmett heard you two carrying on, he is going to get ya'll!" And with that she started cracking up again. What was it they said about curiosity and the cat?

I scowled at Edward, "This is all your fault." I was not looking forward to Emmett and his teasing. He can be so relentless and careless with his remarks. I love him dearly but my brother just didn't know when to stop. Until Rose slapped him on the head at least, but even then, sometimes.

"If I recall you said you were all mine," Edward of course, found it amusing. He loved Emmett just as much as I did, maybe even more. Him and Emmett would have these talks where he got to see a different side of Emmett than what anybody really knew he was capable of. I was glad Edward had Emmett and Jasper to count on.

".Later." I couldn't help but hiss at him. We reached the garage before everyone came out side. "Honey, I think I'm gonna ride the bike today. It'll probably be best if you and Ness ride with Alice and Jasper." That way since Renesmee was getting picked up after school, Edward didn't have to drive back to the house by himself.

Carlisle came out to the garage at that moment. "Kate and Garrett will be here in a few hours. Bella when you get home, we'll begin the tests." Dammit I forgot that they were coming, and about the tests. Leave it to Carlisle to want to run every type of test he could think of when something new comes along. I tried to remember that I needed the training and nodded to him. Edward gave me another kiss before he jumped into the car. In a tenth of a second, I was on my bike and down the driveway.

I followed Edward's car to the high school. It doesn't matter how long I've been away from Forks, I'll always know how to get around the small town without even thinking about it. We pulled into the parking lot and I didn't even need Edward's gift to let me know what people were thinking about my bike. Despite the lot being full, there were still a few spots up front and we took them. Gus and girls alike were looking at me get off the bike. Honestly it was like they've never seen a girl ride before.

I waited for my family to get out of the car. Edward came over to me, slightly faster than a human would've, and scooped me up. "You looked absolutely breathtaking on your bike this morning." I gave him a kiss and smiled. According to Edward, I looked breathtaking in whatever I was doing, but the compliment never got old.

"So what are they thinking?" I couldn't resist knowing what the students thought of my bike. Haha. We started for school.

"Well, a number of the guys are seriously considering doing some things to you while on that bike. That motorcycle has given them reason to have another fantasy about you." At that moment, one of the guys must have thought something extremely lewd, because Edward looked perplexed for a second. He stopped me and pulled me closer to him, and kissed me so urgently, I wished we didn't have school. Not that that's stopped us before. When he pulled away from the kiss, he seemed much better, and even cracked my favorite smile.

"Not that I'm complaining, cause I'm not, but what was that all about?" I couldn't help but smile while asking him. I knew I had guessed the right thing anyway.

"The Newton boy, somehow thought he had a chance with you since he saw you and me in separate rides. He decided he was going to make a move on you, which I stopped with the kiss."

"Haha, well aren't you just my knight in shining armor."

The first few hours of school were non eventful. I sat next to Sarah again in class. She was more talkative today than yesterday. Before class started, we talked about her life mostly. I could tell she was a little uncomfortable about talking so much about herself, but I just kept asking her questions. While she was talking, I noticed she had this gorgeous ring on, it looked so familiar. I didn't remember it from yesterday.

"Is that a new ring? It's beautiful." I asked.

Sarah looked down at it as if she forgot she had it on. "Oh yeah, me and my mom were going through the attic, and I found it in this really old box. It had stuff in it that were over a hundred years old. In fact, my mom thinks it was my great great grandmother's Angela. We're going to go through the rest of the box later there were yearbooks and other stuff when my mother gets home from work."

_Oh crap that's not good!_ I thought over to Edward. I knew he would have heard our conversation. "Wow all that in the attic. And you guys live in the same house?" I kept contact with Angela after graduation for a few years. After college, her and Ben got married, and moved back to Forks. He had a house built for her on the other side of town close to the high school where she became a teacher. Ben worked for my father for a few years before Charlie retired, and the two had their first child a couple years after that. I always had a good excuse for not coming to the wedding or baby showers, but she sent pictures to me and we did the same. Only the ones we sent were doctored, Jacob had gotten really good at Photoshop, and aged me and Edward.

"Yeah, my mom said great great granddad built our house for her, and it's been passed along in the family ever since."

It was the middle of class but I couldn't wait any longer. I raised my hand to be excused to the bathroom. Only since I was a vampire, I wasn't going to the bathroom, I was going to Sarah's house. I needed those yearbooks. Once outside, I walked at a human pace to the parking lot. I remembered the address to the house from Angela's letters. No sooner did I disappear behind the cars in the lot, did I take off running in the direction of her house. The only thing that was coursing through my brain was I needed to protect my family.

I arrived at the house and was glad that there was a tree by one of the second floor windows. Not that I needed a tree to get upstairs, it just made it easier than jumping. Less explaining to do, in case a neighbor happened to see someone entering the house. But then again, who would believe someone was able to jump the height of a second floor building and enter through the window?

I chuckled at the thought and climbed the tree. The window was unlocked, and fairly easy to open. I was glad that Angela and Ben's family kept up with the maintenance of the house. It really was a beautiful house. I easily found the steps that led to the attic. I turned the knob of the door, and the musty attic smell invaded my nostrils. I used to love the old smell, and I still do. It sort of reminded me of the way my books smelled. Using my vampire speed, I went through all of the boxes in the attic and grabbed everything that might link Angela to me or the Cullen's. There were yearbooks, diaries, photo albums. I hated the idea of taking the albums so I went through them, and removed all of the ones that contained evidence of me all those years ago. There weren't any pictures of the Cullen's because they never really hung out with my human friends. Seeing all of these pictures were hard for me, but I got through it. I glanced at my watch and only five minutes had passed since I left class, I would need to return soon. I thought it would be a good idea to go through the rest of the house and make sure there wasn't anything else that I missed. I finally made it to what I assumed to be Sarah's room. It was painted in pale yellow and blue. There were a ton of books in the bookcase and on her desk. I didn't see anything unusual until I glanced a little more closer at the desk.

My breath became short, and I dropped everything that was in my hands. I shuddered at the crash everything made against the floor but I didn't care, because there on her desk was evidence. And it was damaging.


	8. Chapter 8: The Plan

A/N: So I've had relatively good response to my story, except no body is reviewing. :( Please review guys, I need to know if I should continue this story or scrap it. Thank you to those who have reviewed, and added my story to their favorites!!

I also want to say thanks for waiting an incredibly long time for an update. Last weekend I went out of town, then my friend had a baby!!!, then I got sick, and finally I needed a wisdom tooth pulled. All that and I still needed to work, so I was pretty busy. Which was why I was so eager to get two chapters out to you yesterday and another one today. If I can help it you may get one later tonight as well.

Enjoy!!

"She knew." I couldn't believe what I was staring at, it couldn't be possible. But there it was in my hands, no less. A picture of me, Angela and Edward, from our wedding. And as if I needed more proof that it was real, in Angela's familiar handwriting, were our names and the date. Too many questions were going through my mind for me to even pick out just one to focus on. All I could think about was getting back to Edward. I scurried with all the evidence of our previous existence and ran back towards the school. Just as I ran back onto school property, I realized I didn't have the keys to the Volvo, so I made my way to my locker and stashed everything in there for the time being. When I walked back into class, I took my seat next to Sarah.

Alice always told me that I was a horrible actress, but I tried my best anyway to pretend like nothing was wrong. It was harder to do, since Edward kept giving me the side eye wondering what was going on. But could I tell him, or anyone? With the Volturi coming, I couldn't risk them finding out that Sarah knew our secret. Aro's gift would ensure that they would find out, and they would insist that she be destroyed. Though usually the rule is to either become one of us, or die, I was sure just know the Cullen's by association would guarantee her death. I couldn't let that happen to anyone of Angela's family.

But she knew. Somehow she pieced it together. I replayed the conversation with the note passing yesterday, she must have been asking me what were we really, but lost the nerve cause she thought she was crazy. Her thoughts. How did Edward not hear this? If she thought we were the same Bella and Edward from the photo, she would have had hundreds of questions going through her mind, how didn't he hear any of them. And Alice, I'm sure at some point Sarah made a decision to confront me about the photo, why didn't she give me a warning?

The bell rang and I gathered my things like the rest of the student body. The questions were still going through my head when Sarah's voice cut through them sharply. "Bella, would I be able to partner with you for the project? I know you could always be with your boyfriend, but I was just thinking maybe since you're new and none of my friends are in this class, maybe we could be partners?" I honestly didn't know what to make of her.

"Yeah, umm, sure," was all I could muster. I didn't even know there was a project assigned. I must have been gone longer than I expected. I'll get it from Edward. And with that, she was out the door.

Me and Edward were the last students to leave the classroom. We walked quietly to lunch. At first Edward tried asking me what was wrong, but I didn't know how to word it properly. My initial reaction would be, we need to move. But I knew Carlisle wouldn't like that idea for the fact that we wouldn't know what Sarah would say once we were gone. At the cafeteria we sat together, again, minus Renesmee. I was glad she was finding her own friends, I didn't want to have to pull her from school. No we were staying, that much I was sure of. I kept shaking Jasper's gift off of me. He was trying to flood me with peace and contentment. But I didn't want any of that right now. I wanted resolve and I wasn't going to get it with fake emotions. I didn't even bother with the props in front of me. I only kept my focus on Sarah. I kept looking at her while she was at her table, but se wasn't really paying attention to me or my family. I needed to get to the bottom of this.

"Alice, do you see me doing anything in the future?" I wanted to talk to Sarah, but I wanted to make sure that nothing bad would happen.

"Yeah, you're having lunch with that girl over there. You're talking and she seems a little scared, but the conversation is hushed, I can't even make out what you're talking about. Even the vision is hazy, like you haven't fully committed to having it yet. Why?"

"I don't know yet." Without warning, I stood up and walked over to Sarah's table. When I was behind her, her friend nudged her and Sarah looked back up at me. "Sarah can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Errr, sure. I'll be right back guys." She followed me over to an empty table and we sat down facing each other. "Wassup, Bella."

"Well, I umm, don't know what I want to say exactly, so just bear with me okay?" She looked at me puzzled but nodded and smiled at me. Okay great the girl thinks I'm crazy. "Yesterday you asked me what I was, but it seemed like there was something else behind the question. Like you weren't really asking me if me and my boyfriend were sophomores. I was just wondering what you were really trying to ask me."

At that moment I could see she was scared. She took a huge gulp, one I don't think she meant to be heard, but it was really just like in the movies, and her eyes got really big, like a deer in headlights. She started fidgeting with that ring. "Well, umm, I, I won't tell anyone. I promise I won't say anything."

"Sarah, what is there to say?" I was hoping she was still in a talkative manner and just give me one theory of what she was thinking.

"I saw the pictures, but I didn't think of it at first, but then, I saw you and Edward walking into the school, looking the same. I wanted to know what you guys were, because it's impossible for someone, let alone two people, to look exactly like people who existed over 100 years ago. I was shocked. So last night I went through more stuff of my great great grandmothers and found some diaries of hers, but there wasn't really much on you or Edward. I just wanted to know more about her, and it looked like you and her were friends. I don't know how it's possible but it did, and I thought maybe you could help me with that."

I looked in her eyes for any sign of deception. I didn't know what to do. Letting her know about Angela meant letting her know of our secret. The danger that would be involved in her life because of curiosity, would find me guilty for the rest of my existence. I let my shield down and asked Edward what I should do, but when I looked over at the table, he simply shrugged. Since my husband and my sister in law weren't being too forthcoming with any suggestions. I said the only thing I could say.

"Sarah, what are you talking about, what pictures?" I tried saying it as confused as I possibly could have been. I figured maybe this way she wouldn't think I had anything to do with their sudden disappearance. But Sarah may have been too perceptive for that.

"There's just too much to explain. Can we meet after school? I'd really like to speak with you but lunch is about to end." She was so timid, but I knew she was right, she needed to explain so I agreed.

"I'll meet you in the parking lot by Edward's car." I said low enough so that she could hear. I walked back to Edward and sunk into his arms. I kissed him on the cheek and said, "We have a problem." I let down my shield and showed him the minutes I had to steal Sarah's stuff, no Angela's stuff from her house. Next were the images of me stuffing the items in the closet and my meeting with Sarah. "What should we do?" I looked at him so worried, but I couldn't help it.

Edward took his hands and smoothed out my face. "You'll wrinkle dear," he said chuckling. How on earth could he think of joking about a time like this? "Alice has started to see visions that Sarah won't give us any trouble, and she'll be okay with you taking the pictures. Eventually." He started to pinch his nose, he only did that when he was deep in thought about something.

"What? What is it?" I looked up at him and wondered what it was that got him lost for words all of a sudden.

"Alice," he looked over at Sarah's table before he continued, "saw her becoming one of us." I looked over to Alice and the way she looked at me confirmed it. Sarah as a vampire?

"NO!" I hissed at Alice, low enough that no one would know what was going on except the vampires at the table. "Not her." I could feel the rage building inside of me as the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I could see some of the students grabbing their books for the next period and start to filter out of the cafeteria. I allowed myself to calm down, because I could see that Jasper was frustrated that his gift wasn't working.

Between not being able to control my new gift, Alice's vision, the threat that Sarah posed, and the Volturi, I was beyond frustrated. I completely grabbed my things and stormed out. Renesmee and Alice will just have to catch up to me in Spanish.

I was the first to arrive in class, but soon Alice and Renesmee were there also. Alice sat down next to me on my right, and Renesmee grabbed the seat in front of me and turned around. "Alice, please tell me you did not see her as one of us. Please." She was Angela's family. I know Angela is long and gone but I couldn't bear knowing that my only link to my one human friend would become a vampire. Don't get me wrong, I love the life that I've built with Edward and my new family, but like Carlisle, I wouldn't wish this life on anyone that had a choice. Sarah had that choice.

"I'm sorry Bella." Alice looked truly sorry as well, I immediately felt guilty for hissing at her earlier. "But the vision showed that Demetri came before the rest of the guard. I guess as a scout. At some point he realizes that there is a human that knows what we are, and he tells Aro. He wants to kill her but you're the one who changes her."

"Alice, how far into the future did you see Sarah as us?" Something I thought earlier was on the tip of my tongue and I couldn't quite formulate what it was yet.

"Hold on a sec." Alice then turned into her mind and had the outward appearance of daydreaming as she was having her vision. A few seconds later she fazed out of her vision. "It changes, sometimes it's in the winter sometimes it's just before the Volturi come. For some reason, someone's decision keeps making it flip flop."

There were so many variables that could be effecting her visions. I know she gets aggravated when her visions aren't precise. She hates doing anything blind.

If Sarah is a vampire before the Volturi come, would they attempt to try to kill us knowing there was a newborn on our side. Of course in order for her to be on our side we'd have to teach her our ways and show that we're not real monsters. The strength of one newborn vampire will overpower Demetri and Felix's strength and that would leave the Volturi with a weak guard. Jane, Alec, Renata and the three brothers would be left. Oh I wish jasper was here, he was the military strategist.

"Alice, what do you see if I made the decision to turn Sarah myself, before the end of the school year?" I expanded my shield around her, just in case Edward decided to listen in to her vision. There was so much at stake and I needed to keep it from Aro. Alice closed her eyes and smiled.

"Bella you are a genius, that might work."


	9. Chapter 9: Conversations

Chapter 9

Alice was no longer upset that she couldn't see clearly. "We'll have to properly prepare everyone, and we can't mention a lot of things around Edward. Oh shoot I shouldn't have had a vision so precise, what if he was listening?"

I started laughing because I could see she was thinking of something complicated to keep Edward out. "Alice, honey, it's ok. I placed my shield over you before you had the vision. I think the three of us can only know the plans we make. I figure since Aro won't be able to read my mind, he won't attempt to read my thoughts. But he will want someone that's close to me leaving Edward or Renesmee. If he chooses Renesmee, sweetie, you'll just show him whatever you want to show him, just not our plans. Whatever we decide, we have to keep from Edward." I hated keeping Edward in the dark about these things. I had to do it the last time we were being threatened by the Volturi and I promised him I'd never do that again. But here I was. I kept telling myself it was for the protection of my family, and that eased the guilt a little. "What were you thinking of anyway?"

"I started singing the Star Spangled Banner in Hebrew." At that, the three of us laughed and waited for Senora Muniz to start class. The hour was extremely boring because I had taken Spanish a few times before and I now spoke it fluently, better than the Senora, but she didn't know that. Finally it ended and I warned them that I would put my shield around them whenever we were around Edward, but to still be on their guard if I wasn't with them.

In the hallways, Edward and Jasper greeted us and everyone walked together to History. I rushed to Edward's arms because I missed him within that one hour. I was mad at him the last time we saw each other, and I wanted him to know that I wasn't anymore. He bent over and kissed me on my forehead and I knew everything was okay. "I see you're feeling better, love," he sighed.

"I am. Thank you for noticing." I really did feel better, it wasn't an act. "Edward, what do you think I should say to Sarah about her things? I mean right now they're stuffed in my locker. But what?"

"We'll just let her talk, and we can listen. Alice and Jasper will take my car home. All of us don't need to be there when she explains her story. It'll only scare her. It'll just be you, me and Sarah." That seemed reasonable, so I simply nodded and walked to class with my family. The rest of the day was uneventful, but mostly because I was anxious to get this meeting over with.

The day was finally over and I had a knot in my stomach. I knew that the plan would work, since Alice had seen it. We just needed to make sure that there weren't any extra outside factors that would deter the better outcome.

Sarah was already waiting for us by the car. Edward reached in his pocket to retrieve his keys, but just as he started to hand them to Alice, I grabbed them. "Actually honey, you, and Jasper head on home. Me and Alice will stay." I thought this might be risky since he could read minds, but I wanted real time visions, on what was being said. Edward looked at me puzzled and I was glad I still had my shield around Alice because I could definitely see that he was trying to read her for information. Nessie grabbed my hand and showed me that I didn't have to worry about her since Taylor was there to pick her up, and that she'll wait till later than expected to be home. She wanted to make sure that I was there to shield her when she got in. I nodded to her signaling that was a great idea, and waved to Taylor. Edward was still confused as he got in the car with Jasper, but he drove off.

"Alice, when either of us speak, I would like you to slightly nod if your vision changes in our favor, or shake your head if it leads to any outcome that you'll no I won't accept. Right now, I am preparing myself that she may have to become one of us, so leave that with the favorable outcomes." I hoped I made myself clear, since even I wasn't sure what I was saying, but Alice nodded and took her place beside me.

All around us, teenagers were scrambling into their cars, excited that the day was over. Very few noticed our small gathering, and those that did looked on in awe of the shy Sarah talking to the new gorgeous girls of Forks High School.

"Hi Sarah," I started, I wanted this to be as pleasant as possible. No use in scaring her. "I don't know if you know my adopted sister, Alice?" I said pointing to my sister-in-law. Alice had a really big smile on her face like she was thinking of shopping. Knowing Alice, she probably did want to go, since we haven't been to one in several days.

"Hi Bella, Alice. Ummm okay, I know you're curious about what I know, or think I know. But I just want to start off that I won't say anything. It's just, last weekend my mom wanted to clean out the attic because our cousin is coming to live with us, so she wants to turn it into a room for him. So she suggested we'd go through everything up there. I'd always been fascinated with Mom-mom, that's what I called her, so when I saw the picture of you, Edward, and her I fell in love with it. Of course then I didn't know who you were. It was just a beautiful picture. But then when I saw you guys in the parking lot, I thought you were ghosts, but then you spoke to me and I noticed other people saw you and I knew that you weren't ghosts, you were something else, I just didn't know what. But I promise I won't say anything." I looked over to Alice and she nodded. The poor girl was rambling though. "I didn't say anything to my mom yesterday, and while we were going through some more stuff, we came across some yearbooks and I saw everyone else, like you, Alice and Jasper, and two other people with your last names, ummm, Rosalie and Emmett. You all are so beautiful by the way. But anyways, I just want to be friends with you. You seem so nice, and I think I could be your friend too. That's really all I wanted to say. I don't even need to know what you guys are." She must have been really nervous because I don't think she took a breath during that entire rant.

I glanced at Alice again, and she was hesitant at first but she nodded yes. I would have to ask her about that later.

"I'm sorry Sarah, I don't understand. What if I said we didn't need you as a friend?" I didn't want it to sound harsh, only to see what Alice's reaction would be if that was my decision. However, as I finished the statement, Alice started shaking her head furiously. Refusing her friendship was definitely not an option.

Sarah's eyes got big again, like she was fighting tears. "I still won't say anything. I promise." Alice nodded her head again.

I couldn't help but sigh. There was no way around it. Alice's visions of Sarah becoming a vampire seemed inevitable at the moment. I was still banking on other factors not being calculated or decided in this case. "Sarah, we'll have to talk to our family, and see what they say. But I'll see you later. Okay?" I gave her a smile that I hoped was comforting and not menacing. I think it worked because she started jumping up and down in excitement and exclaiming very loudly. Okay, maybe my smile was a little too comforting.

Me and Alice hopped onto my bike and sped off, leaving the high school behind us in a matter of seconds. I chuckled softly again at the gawks that most of the guys had on their face as a girl rode a bike they only dreamed of. The ride was extremely short since I asked Alice if we were going to get pulled over by the cops. When she responded that we weren't, the bike peaked out and we were home in two minute. I think I'll ride the bike every day.

"So?" Jasper asked expecting an answer right away but I shrugged and went inside. I wanted to speak to Carlisle first before mentioning anything to the family, I poked my head into his study, but he wasn't there. I knew Esme was in the kitchen because I could smell her cooking. The aroma wasn't impressive to me, but I knew that if I was still human it would have been mouth watering. Garrett and Kate were sitting on stools that sat alongside the island in the kitchen. I stayed for a few moments with them since I hadn't seen them since their wedding, and then Esme told me that Carlisle was called in for a shift at the hospital. I decided since I couldn't speak to Carlisle, then I needed to speak with Alice. I wanted to know what her visions were during the meeting. I found her cuddled with Jasper in their room, but as soon as I poked my head through the door, Alice got up without a word to Jasper. When her husband protested, she looked at him as if saying, "stay." And he listened, "Fine I'm going to find Emmett." And with that he stormed off.

I double checked the shield around Alice, and she followed me to Edward's old room. Since we had the cottage, Renesmee and Esme turned his room into a studio to record music. It was perfect for Renesmee because she was just as musical as Edward, in fact she played piano, guitar and drums. It was perfect for me and Alice because it was soundproof, even for vampires.

"Okay so what were the visions?"

"When she first said she wouldn't say anything, I saw that she was a vampire, and she was in the clearing with us waiting for the Volturi. The next vision was a little cloudy, like there were some other decisions that still needed to be made besides hers, but she was human. Miserable, and pale like something was eating her up inside, but she was human. Now when you made the fake decision to not be her friend, her future vanished, like she was dead. But I couldn't see what caused it, she was just gone.

But Bella, when you said that we'd talk things over with everyone though, she was a vampire, but she looked really happy, we all did."

Alice walked out of the studio at that moment, but I still kept my shield around her. As long as we were in Edward's presence, I was going to make sure that Alice and Renesmee were covered. I stayed in the room, however to weigh my options. It just didn't seem fair, no mattered what happened, Sarah was doomed to a fate that I wasn't happy with. Either we figured out a way for her to stay human, but in order for that to happen, she'd be miserable for anyone to be around, she became one of us, or die.

"Impossible," I said as I finally left the room. I strolled downstairs to find Edward, Emmett, and Jasper watching a baseball game. It never ceased to amaze me their fondness for sports. I only slightly caught glimpses of their conversations as they were placing bets on who would win, but I was concerned about the time. It was a little after nine, had I spent all that time in the studio. I was a bit perplexed that after spending so many hours in the studio, I still didn't have a solution about Sarah.

Just then, I heard a few car doors slam, and I went to the front door to greet whoever it may be. I was happy to see Taylor and Renesmee. Taylor kept to his word and brought her back at a reasonable hour. I placed my shield around Nessie, but I could tell from her face that she was thinking of something silly to keep Edward out of her mind. She looked relieved when she saw me nod, indicating that my shield was around her. Her and Taylor walked through the door and plopped onto the ottoman with the guys. Already Taylor belonged with the family.

I kept the door open because Carlisle had parked alongside Taylor, and was walking up the steps. As he passed me, I whispered low that I needed to speak with him in the study.

"You're training?," he asked.

"No, something else." He looked puzzled but didn't say anything further. He placed his briefcase in the foyer and I followed him upstairs. Alice fell in step right behind me, I didn't even hear her coming.

I always loved Carlisle's office because of the smell. He had so many old books, and antiques that he collected throughout the years. The cross that he made while he was still human was now hanging on the wall above the door, surrounded by framed pictures of his past. Carlisle entered and sat on his desk, while me and Alice stood by the door. I extended my shield again towards Carlisle. It was easier for me extending my shield around individuals now, the concentration it required barely even registered with my mental capabilities. Though it was an unwritten rule for Edward to use his gift while anyone was speaking to Carlisle in here, I didn't want to take the chance. He knew I was keeping something from him, and I hated keeping him in the dark.

"Carlisle, there are a couple of things we need to discuss with you. First, Sarah from our school, has come across some pictures of us." As I said this, he looked alarmed, so I quickly calmed him down. "Don't worry, I took all the evidence that I could find at her house. She had pictures and yearbooks, and a few albums."

"Well how did she get a hold of anything?"

"Angela Weber was her great great grandmother. Her stuff was in the attic, and Sarah was cleaning it out one day. It just so happened that it was the day before we started at the school."

"Is there a threat?"

"Well she says that she won't tell anyone, and I confirmed it with my visions. So we don't need to move. However," Alice paused and took a look at me before continuing, "on more than one occasion, I've seen Sarah either a vampire or dead. On the one chance that I was able to see her as human, it was bad Carlisle. Bella feels that none of the choices are the best, but it may have to come down to Sarah becoming a vampire."

I threw my eyes to the ground because I didn't want to see his eyes. Carlisle was against turning anyone else into a vampire at this point, especially if there was another choice for them. We've already become too large a family, though the Volturi would never allow us to be called a family, they still referred to us as a coven.

As if reading my mind, Carlisle spoke. "The Volturi will know that she knows about us, as soon as they arrive, Aro will see it in one of our thoughts."

I tried smiling a crooked smile like my husband, "Well, dad, that's where my plan comes in to play."

*****

Sorry for the late update, this was a long weekend. I should have chapter 10 up in two days, so please hold tight. And don't forget to review!!!


	10. Chapter 10: Late Night Visits

Chapter 10

We spent the next few hours with Carlisle going over the details of what I had in mind. He agreed that Edward would have to be kept in the dark, since he would be the first likely candidate for Aro to read. I wasn't too thrilled that he agreed that Sarah may need to be changed into a vampire, but the more I saw my plan unfold, the more it seemed likely that she would have to go through the change. I hated the idea of having to do this to someone related to the one decent friend I ever had as a human. Carlisle thought it best that we should bring Jasper in on the plan soon, he was the better strategist.

"Alice," something just popped into my head while we were talking, "I want to tell Sarah about us tonight, do you foresee any problems?"

Alice's eyes zoned out the way they always do while having a vision. "Rosalie will be pissed, but once Carlisle and Esme explain to her what's happening, she actually takes it well. She handles it a lot better than how she did when Edward told you."

That actually stung, more than I think it should have. Edward had told me that Rosalie hated the very idea of me knowing about their true existence. She had actually wanted to kill me. It didn't help matters when I was being threatened over and over again, just because I knew about vampires, she felt it brought too much attention to the Cullens. I know now, just as I knew then, that I could never hate Rosalie for that, she wanted to protect her family. How could I not understand that? We soon came to an understanding though, when she finally confessed her logic and actions. Then months after that, Rose became more than a friend or a sister, she was my protector when I was pregnant with Renesmee.

Alice must have seen the hurt look on my face because she grimaced a bit. "I'm sorry Bella."

"No really it's okay." I didn't want her to feel guilty about something she can't control. "I was actually wondering about the Volturi though, is their timetable still in the summer?"

"Yes," she blanked out really quick.

"Okay, I'm headed over there now. I want to explain some of this to her before school in the morning."

"Wait Bella, what about your training? Kate and Garrett are here." Carlisle didn't need to remind me.

"I know I spoke with them earlier. I'll be back soon enough. Sarah is human and needs her sleep for tomorrow. And we'll have all night. I'll keep my shield around you while I'm gone. Besides, we have all night." Before he could protest, I jumped out of the window, I also wanted to avoid the questions I knew Edward would have. As I was falling to the ground, I contemplated whether I should run or take the bike, but I quickly chose to run. The wind rushed past me fiercely since the temperature dropped, whipping my hair as I ran. It was a new moon tonight, and the stars glistened in the sky where the moon should have been. The lack of moon did nothing for my sight, I was still able to see everything. I ran towards Sarah's house and jumped into the tree that was beside her bedroom window. I was shocked the light was still on since it was kind of late, but Sarah was up reading a book called The Host. I wondered if it was any good. I tapped on the window softly since I didn't want to startle her, but I still did. Once she got over the initial shock, she let me in.

"Sorry, Bella." What a strange creature she was.

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I don't know, for closing my window?"

"You say sorry a lot, too much actually. Anyways, I take it you noticed that Angela's pictures were gone? I'm sorry for that, but we needed to be sure."

"No, no, no, you're right, I completely understand," she said nodding. "I guess you're here to tell me how things went with your family?" There was so much hope in her eyes and voice, that even if I was here to break her heart, I would have changed my mind at the last second.

"Yes, I did as a matter of fact. But it's rather late so I can't give you the complete story tonight. But tomorrow during lunch, we will tell you as many of our stories as we can. We want to be honest with you, and in order to tell you our different stories, you will need to know what we are." I paused. There was no telling how she was going to take it, but if she was going to become one of us eventually, Carlisle felt that it would help her to be prepared for it, the same way I was. "But, Sarah, I'm telling you right now, if you say one word to anyone, if you write it down anywhere, forces greater than my family will come to kill you and everyone you tell. My family will be killed as well, so you need to understand the implications." I waited for her approval, and she simply nodded. Her eyes were big again in fear, but her heart didn't pump any faster.

I couldn't help but sigh at her impossibility, "Everyone in my family are vampires. We only feed on animals, so we are generally not a danger to humans. "I stopped there because I wanted to gauge how she was doing with this.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Seriously? One of Angela's diaries mentioned something about a Mike Newton having theories about you guys. A couple of them were stupid comic book stuff like, radioactive spiders, and the likes. But vampires were mentioned and—"

"Whoa, what!? Newton said we were vampires?" I was glad I was able to contain my outrage. How did he possibly guess the answer?

"Well, if I remember correctly, Angela said that about five years after your funeral, Mike and Jessica got married, but on their honeymoon to South America, they saw you and Edward on a plane to the same destination. Jessica didn't think anything of it, but he even tried to follow you, but you guys caught a boat to the middle of nowhere. Because of his obsession, he had to spend a few months in the psych ward at Forks Hospital. But he never spoke another word about the 'Cullen Mystery' after that. Angela was really worried about him."

I cracked a smile when Sarah revealed Angela was worried about her friend. Sarah was too similar to Angela in many ways, though they didn't look alike, they had the same personality. This made me even more determined to keep her safe.

"So you don't drink the blood of humans?"

"Nope, we're what you call the vegetarians of the vampire world."

"And you come out in the sunlight?"

"We come out in the daytime."

"But not sunlight?" She's really perceptive.

"No we can't come out in direct sun. People would know we're different."

"Okay, so no sun. What about garlic, holy water, and crosses?"

"All myth."

"Interesting. So if I can't tell anyone because people may die, why are you telling me?"

"Sarah, there are things that are pulling you into our lives. Call it fate, destiny, what have you. But whatever it is, there may come a time where you will need to know this, a time where we might need your help. It's getting late. Go to sleep, we'll see you in the morning. Since you're our friend now, we'll pick you up for school."

Sarah started jumping up and down, and I thought she was going to wake somebody up with her squealing. Strange but adorable. She started to calm down, so I started to leave her room, "Umm Bella?" I turned to face her, and she looked genuinely terrified of something. "I don't have to get on the motorcycle with you tomorrow do I? My mom would kill me!"

"Ha, no we'll be taking Edward's car tomorrow." I couldn't help but laugh at her. I scurried down the tree and started running back to my house. Within minutes, I turned up the drive and I could hear everyone stirring about the house. Taylor's car wasn't there anymore, so I knew he left sometime while I was gone. I was sad that I didn't get to be here for Renesmee after her first date.

I ran straight to the kitchen where I knew I would find Carlisle with Kate and Esme. "Sorry Kate, I know you traveled down here to help me out, and I've kept you waiting."

"No worries. It was nice catching up with everyone." Kate looked happy. Her story made me glad that the Volturi came the last time, because she never would have met Garrett. He was a nomad vampire before he stayed as a witness on our behalf, but when he met Kate, he knew he would follow her wherever she went.

"Bella, I'd like you to tell me what happened, but first we train. Kate, we've explained to you that Bella has discovered a new gift it seems, and you know that you are here to test whether or not the limits of her shield now extend to physical. But Kate, what we failed to mention is that the Volturi are coming back. Aro, Caius, and Marcus have acquired a new vampire who can detect when a vampire has a gift and what it is, and it seems they know about Bella's new gift now. They will not be back until the summer, so I'm sure you understand the urgency in getting Bella trained properly?"

"My family will stand and witness for you once again."

I began to notice that Garrett and Edward had trickled in, but Carlisle already noticed their presence. It didn't matter since my shield was around Carlisle anyway. Poor Edward must be frustrated that he wasn't able to read anybody's mind.

"I'm afraid we may need more than your witness, the Volturi are coming with the intent of destroying all of us, except Bella. Knowing about Aro's propensity to collecting vampires, he will probably want Renesmee, Edward and Alice as well. The rest of my family will be deemed dispensable. We may need you to fight." Carlisle hung his head down. He hated violence, and hated asking his friends to fight even more. The fact that the Volturi have forced his hand into fighting yet again, hurt him greatly.

"We will stand and fight for you," Kate said, amending her original statement. Garrett nodded his head but kept looking at Carlisle. He was like Emmett, so no doubt he was looking forward to a fight.

"Okay, then let's begin." We spent the next few hours experimenting with different scenarios to recreate my new gift. Carlisle wanted Kate and Edward to sit in front of me, while Kate used her electrifying power on Edward. I really didn't like seeing his face in pain but Carlisle insisted that it be Edward since he was the closest to me and we'd need to know mentally, if I stopped him as well. My frustration level was rising after several hours of watching my love being tormented, but Carlisle did not want to let up. I understood the reason behind it all, but that didn't mean I had to like it!

"What did you just do?" Edward's words broke into my thoughts. I looked at him confused since I didn't know what he was talking about. "I can't feel the shocks, and I can't hear anyone. Bella I think you did it!"

I shook my head because I honestly didn't know what I did. The last time I was training for my shield, I was able to visualize an elastic covering over the people I needed to protect. What on earth was I suppose to visualize now?

Kate was still shocking Edward and I could see that he was feeling it again. I tried imagining a shield being used in the battlefield, blocking the enemy and separating them from their weapon of choice. I could see a force of blue light emitting from my unseen warrior and flowing towards my intended victim. He gets knocked back and—

"There! You did it again." Edward was excited, and I wasn't sure why. It could have been because I was starting to master my new talent or the fact that he didn't feel Kate any longer. I continued focusing the light on Kate's power, but releasing Edward from using his, so that he could read minds again. Now that I had my focus visual, mastering my talent was now easier. I could tell by his eyes that he was realizing what I was doing because he looked at Kate and noticed that she was still trying to shock him, while he could hear her thoughts. He broke free of her grasp and kissed me so tight. He pressed his body up against mine with such passion all I could do was wrap my legs around him. All we could do was kiss each other since we didn't need to stop for air. But we did need to stop because everyone was still in the kitchen. And Emmett made sure we knew that we were going to be teased about it later.

After another hour of training, Kate and Garrett were on their way. Renesmee stayed asleep in her bed while the rest of us parted ways with our dear friends.

"Carlisle, I know Tanya was able to keep in touch with many of the vampires from the last time we were needed. When we get back to Denali, I will help her contact them all again. Everyone will be needed. Would you be able to contact the South American vampires? I know they are the only ones that my sister has not kept in contact with."

"Of course, we will. And Kate, thank you." Carlisle spoke softly, still regretting being put in the position to using force. But he knew we were lucky 100 years ago but that the Volturi would be after blood this time. "Get home safe."


	11. Chapter 11: Visions of Love

Chapter 11

Once Kate and Garrett left, it was time to wake Renesmee up for school. While she showered, I ran back to the cottage so that I could change my clothes. I chose a simple off the shoulder blue button up shirt, and jeans. I found some blue stilettos in the back of the closet that matched my shirt perfectly, so I threw those on. Since there was plenty of time, I figured I'd go on a quick hunt, just in case. There was no way I could face Edward, I didn't want to be grilled about something I couldn't tell him.

All my attempts of avoiding him, however, were wasted because by the time I had drained my second deer, he had sniffed me out. Grrr, creepy. "Bella, what's wrong?"

"Edward, I'm sorry, I can't do this, but I have to, just don't ask me anymore, please?" I started to run away from him, but he grabbed my hand before I could get away. "Please, Edward, it was hard for me to keep things from you and Aro the last time, please don't do this to me."

"Okay, fine. Whatever it _this_, is this why you are also shielding Carlisle, Alice, and Renesmee?" His face was tortured, I could see he ached for my thoughts.

"Yes." I couldn't help but feel guilty, so I kept my eyes to the ground. We ran back to the house in silence. The wind rushing past my body could not even uplift my spirits like it normally does. We got to the river, and jumped flawlessly over the gaping, but serene flow. Seeing the house somewhat broke through my funk, and I realized that I was excited for going to school today. "Edward, I told Sarah we'd pick her up for school today."

He nodded his head as we continued to the house. We entered the kitchen to find Esme finishing Renesmee's breakfast. I loved that Nessie finally got used to eating human food. While she was growing up, it was difficult for her to eat normally. She would throw fits while everyone else were able to hunt. But now she found her balance and usually hunts with us once a week.

"Mommy, is it ok if Taylor drives me to and from school again? He wants to take me to First Beach for some surfing. There's a really big swell coming in and I haven't gone out in the water in forever." Even if I wanted to say no, there was no way I could resist her face. In every way she has her father's face, and at that moment, she chose to use it to her advantage.

"Yes honey, that's fine." Renesmee climbed out of her chair to give me a kiss before running to get her school bag. I brought my shield down to make sure everything was okay between me and him. I wanted him to understand this was hurting me just as much as I knew it was hurting him. I showed him my memories of the last time I kept secrets from him. I pleaded with him that I wanted this to be right.

I turned to look at him, and he cracked a smile, not as crooked as I would have liked it, but I could still see that it was warm. "Of course," he said as he gave me a kiss by my ear, "I love you." He held me close to his body and we started walking to the front door to meet up with Alice and Jasper. Renesmee was already outside with Taylor, so the rest of us, got into the car and Edward started driving to Sarah's.

Sarah bounded down the steps of her porch ready to go, but Alice took one look at her and wasn't having it. "Nope, back upstairs!" Alice got out of the car and marched up to Sarah with a bag of clothes and makeup no doubt. "If you are going to hang with us, you have to look like us." The silly little pixie was so demanding, I instantly felt bad for subjecting Sarah to Alice's ways. But at the same time, I was just glad it wasn't me.

"Alice, don't take too long." I looked at Edward like he was supposed to say something more than that, but I knew it was no use. Once Alice had a mission, there was no rushing her or changing her mind.

"I won't," she exclaimed as she and Sarah disappeared back into the house. The three of us sat in the car, but I was feeling a little goofy so I let my shield down. I was in the mood to mess with Jasper, so I let Edward know. He started chuckling too himself when he heard my plan, and climbed over the gearshift to start kissing me. I could feel the electricity between me and my husband surge throughout my entire body. I let myself get lost in his kisses and grabbed hold of his hair. It didn't take long for Jasper to be exasperated though.

"Aghh, can you two just keep your hands from each other? The lust and passion that I'm getting from you guys is very overwhelming at the moment, so just stop. Thank you." We couldn't contain ourselves and started laughing hysterically.

"Oh Jasper," I managed between laughs, "I wish you'd seen your face just now. Classic." I couldn't contain the laughter still.

"Bella, you planned that? Hoho, I think I'm going to have to take a moment and think about how I'll be getting you back for that one." I loved how Jasper's thick Southern accent always got in the way, especially when he was joking. Besides being a great brother, it was one of the things I loved about him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the girls emerging from the house. Sarah looked great. As much as I hated her ways, Alice always did a good job. Sarah's normally curly brown hair was straightened silky smooth, and she was wearing a pink paisley halter and white denim Capri's. I laughed when I saw Sarah's blue denim jacket over her shoulders, she stood up the pixie when no one else could. Go Sarah!

"Oh My Gosh," Sarah started as she hopped into the backseat with Jasper and Alice, "This is amazing. Thanks." I stared at Alice and she looked extra pleased with herself for a job well done.

We arrived at school, and I scanned the parking lot for Renesmee, but I couldn't find her. I was hoping to walk into school with her, it just seemed that I was spending less and less time with her. I glanced back at Sarah and saw that she looked a bit nervous about her new look at school. Jasper noticed her anxiety as well, and sent some confidence her way, and you could immediately see the difference.

Edward chuckled lightly, barely noticeable. I looked around the parking lot again, this time noticing all of the people that were staring. I was amused that this time they weren't staring at us, but at Sarah. Hmph, Rosalie would not have been happy with that, at all.

We made our way to our first class of the day. I sat next to Edward of course for Geometry. I wanted to know why he chuckled earlier in the parking lot.

"Well a number of the girls were jealous of Sarah because she was hanging out with the Cullen's. But that's not why I laughed. You remember how I told you, about the time I had Emmett help me with hooking Angela and Ben together?"

"I remember, but you should have told Sarah, about the girls I mean, maybe she would've felt more confident even without Jasper's boost."

"I know, Bella, I was thinking, I know you wanted us to tell Sarah our stories, but I think we should leave our gifts out. Until the time is right, and she needs to know them." There was no sense in disputing Edward. I could see his face was set in the decision anyways. Besides, I was keeping something very major from him, there was no way I could argue with him now.

"That's fine." I simply said. At that moment, a substitute teacher walked in and started class. I saw him ripping out a piece of paper and start writing. In his impeccable handwriting, I read,

_Anyways, about Ben and Angela. Do you remember?_

I nodded my head as he took the note back. It was about 50 years ago, when we found ourselves thinking back to our time in Forks. He told me how because of Angela's innocent and fresh mind, he wanted to repay her somehow, so he started reading her mind more and more until he "heard" that she had a crush on Ben. Very uncharacteristically of Edward, he solicited the acting skills of Emmett, and proceeded to tell him how he was going to ask Angela out. Ben of course, overheard and became jealous and protective of Angela. He asked her out the next day and they were inseparable ever since.

_Well while we were still getting out of the car, Michael Crowley, whom I'm assuming is Tyler Crowley's relative, thought that she looked beautiful today, but that she didn't need to change her appearance to be beautiful._

I was getting excited just thinking about it, but my thoughts were interrupted by my phone vibrating. It was a text message, from Alice. "Do it, she stays human!" I couldn't even imagine how this was possible. Sarah gets to stay human? But how? Her turning into a vampire was part of my plan, which I was more than happy that I could rework the plan now, but still, how?

The bell rang, and I ran out of the classroom, as fast as I could at human speed. I felt bad that I left Edward in English, but I needed to find Alice. I spotted Renesmee first in the crowded hallway, but as I got closer, I saw Alice, smiling and waiting for me. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I had the vision, and I tried deciding different decisions, she stays human!" She was just as excited as I was. I'll never know how she was able to keep her voice low enough so that the other students couldn't hear her. We walking now towards the gym, and I could see a bewildered Edward and Jasper by the lockers.

"But I told her about us, the Volturi--"

"The Volturi don't know about her in the future, they don't touch her apparently, I saw her married to Michael. It's sometime in the future, but well after the summer. She stays human!" There were so many different directions that this could go. I looked at Alice with so much hope. This was something that Sarah had a chance to live for. "So how do we do this?"

We changed our clothes in the locker room and went to gym, but we continued the conversation, too low and too fast for anybody to even notice. We devised a plan of action similar to what Edward and Emmett did all those years ago, only this time it was going to be Jasper and Alice next period. They had English with Michael, and Jasper was going to mention rather loudly that Edward was going to leave me for Sarah. We were so brilliant. Alice was especially happy that we were doing this for our new friend. It gave her a purpose, at least until the next party that she has to plan. We left gym and parted our separate ways. Alice and Jasper were off on their mission.

Thank goodness this is Forks, and even the school is dependable at being uneventful. At lunch, we each took turns telling our stories. We withheld the gifts that we each possessed and the Volturi. Sarah took to the stories pretty well. She seemed very curious at the fact that Carlisle was able to work in hospital, but other than that she didn't have any questions. As we started getting up for the next period, she swore to us that she would hold onto our secret. I didn't even need to look at Edward or Alice to confirm this, I believed Sarah was trustworthy and I was glad she was a friend.

The last few hours of school dragged, and I was dying to ask Alice and Jasper how English went, even though Alice's visions confirmed that things were going to happen for Sarah and Michael. I really wished that Edward could have been in their English class so that he could tell me if Michael and Ben had the same thoughts. I just thought that would be so cute. As it was though, we still needed to take Sarah home anyway so I'd ask then.

We met up with Sarah outside by the fourth building on campus and walked to the car. Renesmee saw Taylor's truck and waved bye, and ran over to him. I was so glad that she was able to find love again. I was worried that there wouldn't be another person that she could ever love anywhere near as much as she loved Jacob. I heard Edward growl as I was looking in their direction, so I followed his glance to a group of guys to our right. In the midst was the Newton kid leering over Renesmee. I had no doubt Edward was listening to his thoughts, and I was only slightly scared for the boy's safety. I brought Edward back to reality, in the meantime by linking my arm into his. I let down my shield so that I could tell him how much I needed him. It seemed to work until someone else's thoughts caught his attention. I looked at him a little concerned but then he started smiling.

"Michael saw me kissing you and he can't tell if I'm trying to run game on you and Sarah, or if I changed my mind to stay with you. But whatever the case he's determined to call Sarah tonight and spill his heart out to her."

I've never been so excited to help a human.

****

Okay I am more than likely going to be able to get another chapter in before the weekend. The only problem is, I'm working on a late project (I'm a graphic designer) and the deadline is this weekend, and  
on top of that I have an event at my church to plan, and my grandfather's 80th birthday party on Sunday, but I will definitely try my bestest and hardest.

On another note, I just want to thank everyone who is reading my story, whether you added me or my story as a favorite, or alerted me, or not. Thank you. But I also want to thank those especially who have been reviewing as the story progresses. Please let me know how I'm doing guys, I'm trying to write this story with a decent amount of length and content so please review!!

Thanks,

Jshai


	12. Chapter 12: Shopping

I'm sooooo sorry for keeping everyone waiting for this chapter. Everything has been hectic this weekend that I didn't even have time to write. Thank you for your praises and reviews, keep em coming!!

Without further ado...

Chapter 12

I was standing in the fitting room trying on my sixth dress in this store. As I was twirling around looking at myself in the mirror, I was trying to remember how I even got here.

"Michael asked me to prom!" Sarah screamed in my ear when we picked her up for school. It had been several months since Sarah and Michael started going out. Jasper and Alice had a little hand in getting them together. We saw it as giving her something to be happy for. Slowly but surely, their relationship progressed and by the time everyone got back from winter break, they were a couple. As long as it tool Michael to officially ask Sarah out, it took him even longer to be comfortable around any of the Cullen's. Edward once told me it was because he was still unsure of Edward's intentions with Sarah, but was eased once Edward made it known that he intended on marrying me once we graduated.

"Oh my gosh, do you know what this means?!" I sometimes hated it when Alice pretends that she didn't see this coming. I groaned at the same time she yelled, "Shopping!" Alice heard my groan and hit me lightly on my arm from the back seat. She could barely contain herself at the thought. "Sarah, we were already planning on shopping for dresses so of course you are more than welcome on joining us." It amazed me how Alice never tired of shopping, knowing her, she already knew what Sarah's dress looked like.

I still remember the day that Alice came home and said we were going to prom this year, and how confused I was since we were sophomores. I was looking forward to a school year without having to deal with a prom, but Alice wasn't hearing it, and wiggled herself onto the prom committee and got all of us tickets to prom.

"Sure Alice, but please restrain yourself, you know the rules." Sarah was always firm with Alice when it came to dressing her. Alice didn't like the restraints but understood. Sarah was very much involved in her church, and even though we didn't dress too provocative, Sarah never wanted to take the chance on compromising her faith, so she was always the most conservative of our group. She was even able to get Alice to stay out of her hair all the time. Another rule was that Alice couldn't go overboard with shopping for her. Sarah didn't want her mom to get to suspicious of an overabundance of new clothes in her closet. I was so envious, why couldn't I of had it that easy? "Are we going to Seattle?"

"Yep, Oh Sarah, I know you're gonna look so glamorous!" Alice just oozed excitement. "Not Seattle, but don't freak out, we'll have you home before dinner, we'll make it a girls day. Are you free this Saturday?" I was pretty sure that Alice knew but she saw it fit to ask anyway.

"Umm, wait that's tomorrow. Yeah, I think so."

"Then it's a date."

And because of that exchange, I was being slowly tortured by shopping for dresses with my sister in law, my daughter, and Sarah. Having embraced shopping in New York, Renesmee and Sarah already had their dresses.

Renesmee choose a royal blue satin dress with a bustier styled bodice. It was floor length and a diagonally pleated under the bust line flowing into a full skirt. It also had beading that was embroidered along the bust and the skirt. She and Alice were able to find matching shoes and accessories. Renesmee will look absolutely stunning, I was sure of it.

Sarah's dress was much more formal. It was baby pink organza with a princess skirt. It was strapless and the top of the dress was satin with embroidered sequins, it also had a ribbon die in the back. Alice was also able to find her dress. She opted for something that was more conservative than what she's chosen in the past. Her dress was silver and it had a halter neckline with a sequin bust. It also had a really high front slit.

Leaving me to be the only member of the resistance. I left the fitting room slightly defeated. I was starting to get into the prom spirit, but the idea of shopping for special occasions always dejected me. I started to let my mind wander when I saw it. It was a turquoise chiffon gown with spaghetti straps and a halter neckline. It was extremely flowy and it looked absolutely gorgeous. Once I tried it on, I was actually in love with a dress.

We gathered our purchases and grabbed something for Sarah to eat on the way to the airport. Jasper met us on the runway and we told him about our fun filled day. At least Alice did, Renesmee and Sarah were knocked out beside me in the backseat. Alice was taking the guys out next week so they could get their tuxes. She wanted to make sure they were matched perfectly so there were no clashes. Michael was new to the bunch but he quickly picked up on everybody's attitude when Alice made up her mind. He saw that there was no stopping her.

As soon as we drove up to Sarah's house, I hopped out of the car as well. As I started running, I thought I heard Alice calling my name, so I called back that I was going hunting. I really wanted to hunt after being in close approximation with humans all day. Unlike Alice and Renesmee, I used bad judgment in not hunting before the trip and now my eyes were black as coal. The run was exhilarating but it took me awhile to find something tasteful. I kept catching a whiff of deer, but today I wanted something a little more satisfying, and deer was not it. It seemed at one point that I was running back to New York, even though I knew I wasn't running fast enough for that. The shift in the wind alerted me to some elk in the area so I quickly changed direction and was soon on top of my prey. I was slightly disappointed since elk tastes very similar to deer, but I really wanted to see Edward, so I settled for the elk.

I took down a bull flawlessly without a scratch or drop of blood and started making my way to the house. The clouds were hanging a little low and I thought I heard thunder far away. "Ohh, I hope it makes its way to Forks, we haven't played baseball in a while," I said to myself. Just as the statement left my thoughts, I caught a scent, something familiar. Someone I knew. Vampire.

I ran even faster, tracking the scent through the mountains and forest. Everytime I thought the scent was getting stronger, it eluded me and went off in a different direction. I was starting to get worried when I realized that I was getting closer and closer to the house, so I ditched my tracking efforts and ran straight for it.

I let down my shield and hoped that Edward was listening. I was practically screaming in my head, "Edward, there is a vampire in the area. Is everyone safe?" I was running up the steps as Edward opened the door for me. "Did Alice and Renesmee get back yet? Edward what's going on?"

"Bella calm down," Edward was telling me, but there was something behind it. He put his arm around me and walked me into the dining room. Everyone was in there, standing around the table that we never use, except for meetings. Everyone was paired up with their mates, including Renesmee and Taylor.

"Are we having a meeting?"

"Of sorts." I heard Carlisle's voice among the faces that were now staring at me. "Alice had a vision after you left the car. So I did hear her calling my name. I couldn't believe that I missed her having a vision, especially now that it seemed to involve the whole family.

"Does this have anything to do with the vampire I smelled outside?" Everyone looked at me alarmed, including Edward. I guess he didn't hear me after all. Shoot.

"Bella," his arm tightened around my waist, "what did you say?"

"I was hunting, and I caught wind of a vampire in the area. It was familiar, I just couldn't place it, so I started following it until I realized it was coming closer and closer to the house. Once I realized that I came straight here. Now someone tell me what is going on, Alice what was your vision?" I was immediately glad that me and Carlisle were able to work on controlling my shields against my temper. I felt the heat of my anger rising up in me, but I didn't impair anyone's gift.

"It was only a snippet, if you will." Carlisle said in an even tone, "Aro has decided to send someone to us ahead of schedule. But it was a quick decision, as if he realized too late that Alice could see the future based on decisions."

"Demetri." I remembered the scent from my last encounter with the Volturi. Demetri smelled more gamey than the rest of the Volturi, probably because he was always tracking. I realized in that instant why the scent was so familiar. "It's Demetri, he's here."

"Demetri? Bella are you sure?" Esme and Rosalie spoke at the same time. If it wasn't for the severity of the situation I probably would have said jinx and started cracking up. Everyone was looking at me expectedly.

"I'm more than positive. I always found his scent more distinctive than the rest of the Volturi. It smells more outdoorsy versus the basement smell of the guard."

"What else could I have missed?" Alice was worrying now. "If he's already here, that means Aro made the decision a few days ago, but I just got it today?" The last time anyone had seen Alice this worried about her visions was when Victoria was blocking her plans from the army of vampires she created in order to kill me. "Bella when you were tracking him, how close to the house was he?"

I could see the turmoil in Alice's eyes, just as I could hear it in her voice. "The closest that I was able to track him he was about an hour's hike away from the house, in human measurements, I'd guess. But then, he'd run back further and deeper in the woods. Carlisle, what should we do?"

Carlisle closed his eyes and bowed his head in thought. His golden hair stayed in perfect place, he always reminded me of the Ken dolls that girls used to play with a century ago. "I almost want to say that we should lay low from Forks. You kids will stay away from school. And I have some vacation time from the hospital. But I don't see how that would help Sarah. Your scents are going to be all over her and her house. There's no telling what Demetri will do if we suddenly disappear while a human we are friends with is now left unprotected." At the mere mention of Sarah's name I shuddered. What if Demetri being here is the reason she may wind up dead?

I was still pondering the different directions that this could wind up when I vaguely heard someone knocking at the door. I whispered to Alice, "Who is it?" But she shook her head.

"I don't know, whoever it is hasn't made a decision yet on what they want to say to us." Poor Alice was still perplexed about her visions. I looked to Edward, but he shook his head also. "He's not thinking of anything, it's like his mind is completely blank." I didn't like this at all. Everyone followed Carlisle to the front door.

The door slowly swung open and I fell down into a crouched position. I instinctly growled and lunged at the figure standing at the door. "Demetri," I screamed and went for the kill.


	13. Chapter 13: Pounce

Chapter 13

"Bella wait. STOP!" I could barely register that Edward wanted me to _not _attack Demetri. What? Was he serious? I stumbled as I tried to halt myself from hurling myself on top of the intruder. I knew instantly that I had made a mistake and that I was never going to hear the end of it.

A booming laugh sounded from Emmett. "Oh I thought I'd never see Bella be clumsy again! That was great!" I shot him a look that would've killed him if it was possible. But not before Rosalie slapped him upside the head. "Dude, it was totally worth it," he said, then very wisely shut up.

Edward came up behind me and spun me behind him. He was now in between me and Demetri. I peered around Edwards arms and saw Demetri in a defensive manner, wearing regular clothes. I had never seen him without the traditional black robe of the Volturi. His eyes were bright red which meant he was very thirsty. I couldn't help but growl when I thought of him hunting in Forks.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded. I couldn't understand why no one but me wanted to attack him. I looked around and noticed that everyone was waiting for Edward to explain the same thing.

"Demetri isn't here under the orders of the Volturi," Edward started. "He came to warn us. But why?" Demetri looked shocked for a moment that Edward spoke for him, as if he seemed to forget what he was capable of.

"Young Edward is right, I told Aro that I wanted to take an extended hunting trip. I will need to be back soon. As you may be in knowledge of by now," he looked over to Alice to confirm, "Aro and Caius are planning on coming here to kill all of you. Excepting Edward, Renesmee, Alice, Jasper, and of course, Bella." Demetri looked at us as he said our names, lingering on mine. He also stopped for dramatic effect which I found to be quite annoying. It was so not necessary. "The new vampire, Charlene can detect the gifts of vampires and also the gifts of humans that would bring powers over. With that knowledge, along Bella's new gift, Aro has devised an awful plan."

Again, Demetri took a moment to let this new piece of information sit with us. I looked up to Edward as I came out from behind him. His jaw was locked and I knew he was reading Demetri's mind. "What's the plan, Demetri?" I asked for the benefit of my family.

"Aro wants to eradicate the vampires in the world. Kill them, so that he can start over with a new race. He saw how quickly and cunning you all were to gather witnesses the last time we visited with you." Renesmee shuddered beside me. She was a baby still when the Volturi came to kill us, but she remembered the day just as well as any one of us. "He wants to implement some new regime and is in the thinking that with such a huge coven, you will reorganize once again, to over throw him before this can happen."

I could see out the corner of my eye that Carlisle was pondering the words that were being spoken by someone that was once our enemy. "I noticed, Demetri, that you said Aro and Caius, where is Marcus on this?"

"Marcus has always been detached from the plans of Caius and especially Aro. He has never betrayed them until as of a decade ago, when he found out that Aro was the one who killed his wife. A little known fact is that Marcus is my father. Of course not biologically, but he is my vampire father, he made me. Like him, I am appalled at the very notion that Aro and Caius now believe they are above the law that they swear they protect. You are an odd lot, but an innocent one. Marcus has confided in me and we are now the only ones that you may consider friends within the enemy."

"Demetri, if you are here for Marcus you must leave then. I had a vision prior to your arrival that Aro is sending someone in advance. I don't know who or when they will arrive." I had forgotten about Alice's vision. I looked to my sister and saw that she was only slightly relieved that her visions weren't screwed up after all.

"Yes I must return, before I am found out. Of course we cannot be in contact after this." Demetri turned to walk out the open door that we never even bothered closing when he came to the house.

"Um, Demetri, I saw that you're eyes were red, please," Carlisle started.

Demetri said that he would hunt outside of our area and turned to return to Volterra. There was a silence in the air as everyone processed what we just heard. "Aro and Caius have gone too far past their limitations." I could see what everyone was resolving, this meant war.

After a few moments of standing in the foyer, we started filtering back into the dining room. "Well it seems our friend Marcus and Demetri have given us something to consider. Bella as I understand it we already need to revise your plan." I knew he meant about how Sarah was now remaining human. She wasn't entirely critical to the original plan, just her added strength as a newborn vampire. Everyone in the room was aware of the plan and their roles. Except Edward, he only knew that he was to "play dumb" so to speak when Aro wanted information.

"Yes, I believe so. Alice?"

"Her future is still the same." I was relieved, even if none of us survived this, at least Sarah would be happy and alive. "But as far as what's going to take place with the Volturi, I can't see with the wolves in place."

"What if they sat this one out?" Renesmee asked with concern over Taylor. She just found love again, she didn't want to lose it so soon. I knew how she felt. I remembered thinking that it wasn't fair if the Volturi killed me and Edward, only a few months after I became a vampire.

"Nope won't work. Me and Bella already went through this. Without the wolves, we're all dead. At least with the wolves, there's still hope that we may win this." The words fell heavy on everyone.

"Then it's settled," Esme began. I had all but forgotten that she was here. She was silent the entire time. "Bella, Jasper, Alice and Carlisle, you will amend the plan. Taylor, you will let the pack know of the information that we've received tonight?" Taylor nodded in approval. "I also think, in light of what's taken place, if it comes to a battle we should spare Marcus and Demetri. They did us a great service of warning us." Everyone agreed with Esme's words. It was true, they helped us out a bit. At least now we knew what Aro's sinister plan was.

"I'll get on the phone with everyone we know," Carlisle said. "Even if they don't want any part of this, they deserve to be forewarned about the impending plan that Aro thinks he can get away with. Maybe the knowledge will be the deciding factor for them to be on our side." He was still troubled that violence would be the end resolution to the problem. "In the meantime, I see no need to interrupt our routines. Just be cautious, as we don't know who Aro is now sending to Forks."

We each retreated away from the table. Renesmee followed Taylor outside to his car. He was going back to La Push to alert the pack no doubt. Emmett and Jasper went into the den to watch a game and while Rose followed Alice upstairs, Alice wanted to show Rose our dresses for prom. Ughh, prom. I didn't realize anyone could see the stress over my face until Edward told me that I would look beautiful.

Prom was only in a few weeks, and it seemed that there wasn't anything that would be able to take my mind off prom. Except, that. Edward was nibbling on my ear. He scooped me up and ran towards the cottage. I always enjoyed are special time together.

We spent the next few hours with each other until it was daylight. The sun was actually shining today so we were planning on laying low around the house. It was only Sunday, so we weren't missing anything in particular. Hand in hand, me and Edward made our way back to the house. Renesmee was sitting on top of Taylor's car. I could see her skin shimmering, only her skin didn't shimmer in the sun as brightly as our skin. Being half vampire and half human had its advantages, I guess. I considered it a blessing to see Renesmee happy again. She was smiling and looking at Taylor and he was matching her gaze. We said hello to the both of them and walked into the house.

As if they never moved, Emmett and Jasper were on the couch watching a different game. Knowing them they probably didn't move. We only need to fidget for the benefit of humans and looking as normal as we possibly could. This morning they were watching football, I couldn't care enough who was playing, but Edward went over to watch the game with them. I went upstairs to look for Alice and found her in her room making alterations to Renesmee's dress.

We passed the day talking about school, prom and of course the Volturi. Eventually I went downstairs to help Esme with dinner for Renesmee and the pack. Taylor thought it was a good idea for the pack to get used to us. Especially since Taylor imprinted on Renesmee, she would soon be a member of La Push, again. I knew the day would soon be approaching that Taylor would ask to marry Renesmee, and I was instantly sad. At least with Jacob, we had to wait for Renesmee to stop growing and finish high school before we had that bridge to cross. But now, she's been to school countless times and her feelings for Taylor were instantly developed. I was losing my baby all over again. But she'd be happier, I was sure of it. I'd forgotten how much food a pack of wolves could go through. After shoveling the meal down their throats. Renesmee and the pack left for First Beach.

Carlisle came home soon afterwards, and Edward and I, along with Jasper and Alice went out to hunt in preparation for school in the morning. Alice saw that the sun wouldn't come out again until Thursday, so we were ready to start telling everyone that we were going camping for the weekend. Jasper and Alice were happy with a family of deer while me and Edward went searching for some mountain lion. By the time Alice was done with her third buck, we found a lair with three mountain lions. We each handled one while the third lion uncharacteristically tried attacking me from behind as I fed. With one hand I knocked it aside and its head bashed against a tree. It was unconscious but still alive, so me and Edward shared our meal together.

We met up with Alice and Jasper at the edge of the clearing to head back to the house. I suddenly heard a piercing scream just to the left of me. Alice was on the ground screaming in pain. I sent my shield over to her, Jasper and Edward. She stopped screaming but laid down on the ground waiting for the pain to pass. I crouched down into a pounce as soon as I saw the little blond. Jane.


	14. Chapter 14: Prom

_Wow I can't believe I'm at 14 chapters already!! BTW how do you post pictures on this site? I have pictures of the prom dresses that I wanted to post up if anyone is interested. So let me know, keep up the reviews!!!_

Chapter 14

Jane entered the field flanked by two vampires I'd never seen before. The one on the right of Jane had long red hair that he kept braided. The second one was olive complexion and had dark black hair that was cropped low to his head. All three were wearing the robes of the Volturi and looked even more sinister while swiftly making their way over to us.

"Cullens." Jane simply said. I should really say smirked as she watched Alice slowly climb from the ground. Alice clung to Jasper, trying to recover the pain that Jane inflicted in her mind. Jane turned her attention to me and glared, I glared back. Jane would probably always have a hatred for me because in her eyes, I was now the main interest that Aro held. A position that I'm assuming that Jane once held. Imagine that, a centuries old vampire that's jealous of me.

"Jane. What brings you to these parts?" Edward asked innocently. "We have done nothing wrong and yet you come torturing my sister? I wonder if Aro would be pleased." At the mere mention of Aro's name, Jane shuddered. She knew Aro would not be happy about her behavior. She was only to come to Forks to check on us and see if we had any inclination of their plans, not in violence.

"I had business matters that needed to be taken care of in the area. I figured since I was so close, I'd check on your family. I only wanted to see Bella's reaction time. I can promise you there was no intent of malice behind my actions." Jane sneered when she said my name. Edward's jaw tensed at the lies that were contained within her statements. We knew the "business matters" that needed to be tended to, was us.

The training that I received from Carlisle came in handy again. Through our training sessions, I learned how to direct my shield block, as I called it sometimes, to certain people. Right now I was projecting it to the three vampires that were threatening my family. I felt something trying to break through, but the block was holding. I searched the eyes of the three and noticed that the one with the red hair was looking frustrated. Whatever his power was, it wasn't getting through. Edward followed my gaze and whispered that he has the power of teleportation. He could send anyone or any object anywhere he wanted.

"The other one is just as frustrated, it would seem that he can steal the powers of other vampires. But your block is working against his. He can't even steal your block!" Edward whispered carefully to me so that the others could not hear. I could see why Aro would choose these two to accompany Jane, even if the powers of the red headed one and Jane didn't work, the vampire with the ability to steal powers should have be able to steal mine. I cringed, if that had been possible, we'd all be dead. This was Aro's way of testing us, of testing me.

"I see you are all fine. I will be glad to pass this information along to Aro. He will be more than pleased at your family's well being." I couldn't help but noticed the double meaning to her words. It slightly reminded me of when she came to check on us shortly after the war of the newborns. She couldn't wait to tell Aro then that I was still human, despite orders that I should be changed sooner than later. "We will be on our way." The three vampires turned and just as swiftly as they were in front of us, they were gone.

For the first time, I was able to run to Alice. "I'm okay, I'm fine," she assured us. "Just promise she's brought down the next time we see her."

"I'll keep that promise." Edward's voice was still stern and tense. We ran back to the house quickly after that. Carlisle was in his study and Edward and Jasper recanted what transpired in the clearing.

"Hmmm, it seems that it was an excellent idea that we not gather the forces too early then. Though we once had time on our side at the time. It seems that will no longer be the case now. Your prom is in two weeks and the end of school is only two weeks after that. Alice, can you get a better idea of when exactly they will arrive?"

Everyone in the study looked at Alice expectedly. "It's the day of Chief Parade!" The Chief Parade was a day Forks set aside several years before Charlie's retirement to show their appreciation for what he did for the small sleepy town. It used to be Chief Swan Day, but as the years progressed, Forks added a carnival, a festive, and a parade. Eventually they changed it to the Chief Parade to honor whoever sat as the current police chief. It's quite a big deal for Forks now.

"That's the day after school lets out!" I cried. I rushed out of the room because I needed to think of a reason to keep Sarah out of Forks that day. Then I remembered about a band that she mentioned, Secret Lover. I remembered her saying that before they were signed to a label they wanted to be called Paramore, and then they found out that there was a band that already had that name about a hundred years ago. But since the name was still in use for royalties, they decided to call themselves Secret Lover, which was simply the Latin meaning of Paramore anyway. I checked the computer and found that they were in concert in Seattle that day, so I pulled my credit card out of my pocket and purchased two v.i.p. access tickets for her and Michael.

"Is everything alright love?" Edward said in such a soothing voice.

"I just wanted to make sure Sarah and Michael weren't around that day, is all. I couldn't imagine knowing the Volturi and Sarah were in the same town, let alone while there may be a battle involved." I let down my shield and reminded him of all the time that we spent with her, and how she kept our secret from day one, even from Michael. She was Angela's descendant and above all else, she was our friend. "I won't let anything happen to her Edward."

"I know dear. I know."

The next few weeks were at a crawl, even for vampires who had all the time in the world. The entire family was tense and I'm sure even the kids at school could tell something was up with us. We tried keeping it as low key as possible for Sarah's sake, but she never noticed. She was to jazzed about prom. "I've been looking forward to this my entire life! Of course I always thought I'd be a junior, but this is so much better! I'm going to be with the one I love," she kissed Michael on the cheek as she continued talking, "and my best friends! I just know this night will be magical." Sarah was absolutely adorable when she rambled.

My innocent little Sarah started humming and couldn't wait to put on the dress she bought with us in New York. Prom was tonight, and the entire school buzzed with excitement. There weren't many sophomores going to the senior prom, so some gave us a jealous eye at lunch time. I mistakenly told Alice one day that I'd gladly trade places with them, but she made me feel guilty. "How could you do that to Sarah? You know she's too excited for this night to go as planned, and that includes you dancing along side of her all night!" Everyone knew how much it meant to me that Sarah was happy, and they knew exactly how to push the right buttons. Alice was the master.

Because of prom, the high school was letting everyone who was attending to leave early. Alice had rented a white limo for the occasion and reminded Sarah that we'd be by her house around 6:30 to pick her and Michael up and for pictures. We had plenty of time to get ready so the four of us and Renesmee went into the woods to hunt. I was in the mood for mountain lion again, but Forks was having an over population of deer, so deer it was.

We each had two deer, except Renesmee, it had been awhile since she hunted so she was starving for blood and had three. We ran back to the house to get ready for our twentieth prom. Honestly I didn't know why Alice bothered getting excited over these things anymore. But I guess being eternally young, there really isn't anything that we can do but go to high school and prom. Since we were ahead of schedule, Alice took her time doing our hair for tonight. All three of us had up do's and our neckline was wonderfully marked with the necklaces that we purchased with our dresses.

The limo picked us up and we headed over to Sarah's house. Michael arrived at the same time as we did and we all stood in the backyard of the Moore house waiting for Sarah. Her mother came outside and offered us some cookies. We each took a bite of one and swallowed. Sarah's mom always offered us food and since she was just as sweet as her daughter, we politely always accepted. Unfortunately for us, we can't taste any human food, let alone digest it. Fortunately for us, because of her generosity, we were now at least able to swallow the food without grimacing. We were better actors for it, and I'd hate to hurt her feelings over something we can't control. When her back was turned to us, we each gave Renesmee our cookies and let her devour them. We each regurgitated the cookie and threw the mess into the other yard.

Mrs. Moore was at the screen door and holding it open for Sarah to come through. I smiled as I heard Michael catch his breath. Edward was smiling also. I let my shield down and asked him if I was as breathtaking to him as Sarah was to Michael when we went to prom for the first time. "And more" was his simple reply. I knew that wasn't the case since vampires couldn't breathe. Plus the fact that I was in a cast the day of my prom, thanks to James. Edward always felt that he needed to remind me that no matter what, I was always stunning to him. But to this day I still say he had it backwards, he was stunning to me. I was the one that was too lucky to have him.

Mrs. Moore took so many pictures I thought we were going to be late to the prom. The Moore's had a beautiful backyard complete with a garden and a pool. We took the group shots in front of the garden that was full of ruffled tulips. The waterfall was the background for the couple shots, and then we were on our way. No sooner did we get in the limo did Alice start blasting the radio. I think for my benefit, Jasper sent waves of happiness in my direction even though I didn't need it. For once I was happy for the distraction of prom. I didn't have to think about the Volturi and best of all, I was with Edward, Jasper, Alice and best of all Sarah.

We coupled up as we walked into the banquet hall, and I was shocked when I looked around. "Alice, you didn't?" I started chuckling and when Edward started looking at the decorations and caught on.

"I personally thought it was a nice touch to the evening," Alice was beaming. This year's theme for the senior prom was a Casino Royale, the exact same prom theme when I first went to Forks. "I just couldn't resist!" No one could deny that Alice was a great party planner. We found the table that we would claim as ours and took turns getting our formal pictures taken. Edward liked collecting and framing them throughout the years, but I thought it to be silly. His favorite was the very first prom we went to, I was human then. I actually hated that one because I looked so plain standing next to him. And even though you couldn't see that cast, I knew it was there. If I had to choose it would be my first prom as a vampire. We were living in Denali with Tanya and her family. Me and Edward were married by then and I looked just as angelic as him.

I wasn't a clumsy human anymore, but I still hated to dance. Whenever a slow song would come on, Edward would pick me up and place my feet on his and we'd dance that way. I liked that part, and if I could, I would've stayed just like that, but Alice constantly reminded us that we had to act like we were tired from dancing every so often. Only because of Sarah did I volunteer to go on the dance floor at all.


	15. Chapter 15: Last Day

Chapter 15

The air at the high school settled over the next few days after the excitement of prom had waned. Now the only major event for the school to look forward to was the last day of school. Sarah was so excited when me and Edward handed her the tickets in Seattle. They arrived in the mail Friday afternoon, but I wanted to wait until after prom to give them to her. That way she got to experience two separate happy moments.

"Oh my God Bella! You shouldn't have," she shrieked. "Are you guys going too?" Sarah's curly brown hair bounced behind her in a ponytail in sync with her excitement.

"No, actually next Wednesday, a lot of our friends and family are coming in for a bit of a family reunion. They're coming in from out of town, so we're all going to go camping. We won't be around after our last final." Alice interjected. Sarah knew that camping was our cover story for why we weren't out in the sun. During many sunny days throughout the school year, she spent with us at the Cullen house, and seen us shimmer. With just a few words however, Alice was able to clear everybody's schedules for the weekend, so our absence from the parade, or anything else wise wouldn't be missed.

"Oh," was her simple reaction. I think she picked up on the cue about our friends and family coming in for a visit. Knowing that most were not vegetarian vampires, she shuddered slightly. "Then what's the occasion for the tickets?"

"Well, I knew they were your favorite band, so since they were going to be in the area, I figured you'd enjoy that experience more than the parade." Sarah looked at me suspiciously. I guess she had every reason to think something was up. "If you'd rather go the parade, you can give the tickets back. This was just our way of saying thanks for everything you've done for us this past year." About twenty years ago, Jasper had told me that even though I was horrible at lying, I was getting better at it. I think it had everything to do with how much truth was actually in the words that came out of my mouth, and since most of what I was telling her was the truth, I hoped that was the case here.

"Oh Bella, you guys didn't have to do that! But of course you're welcome." Sarah bounded over to each of us to give out her hugs. I was amazed at how much one little person could contain within her being. She ran off to find Michael so she could show him her prize.

Now that Sarah and Michael would be safely out of town that day, we only needed to get through till the middle of next week. But since we were still in the present, we made plans with Michael and Sarah for later this week, to form our own little "study group." Finals were next week and Michael wasn't doing too well in history or math, while Sarah kept second guessing herself in Computer Science. Alice had seen that many of our allies were arriving on Wednesday, but what she didn't mention was that they were arriving this Wednesday not next, so we were going to meet at Sarah's house after school on Thursday and Friday. Of course, we'd already been through high school before so our little study group was really a tutoring session, but only Sarah knew that.

Though the circumstances weren't the best, I was glad to see our friends again. The very first half human, half vampire creature we had ever encountered besides Renesmee, Nahuel, was bringing his aunt Huilen, his father Joham, and his three sisters. Joham, Nahuel's father, had thought that he was creating a super-race of vampires and began experimenting with the idea several centuries ago. I was glad he did because it saved our life. They would be the first to arrive along with the rest of the Amazonian coven, Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri. Zafrina and Renesmee developed a close friendship that started when Renesmee was still a baby. Zafrina had the ability to create illusions in the minds of anyone she should choose. Renesmee loved it since Zafrina always gave her something pretty to look at.

The next group that would be arriving shortly after the Amazonians, was the Denali's. Benjamin, Tia, Amun, and Kebi were the Egyptians and were agreed to stand with us again. During the last encounter, Amun was not at all pleased with the idea of standing witness for Renesmee and was very eager to leave with his mate as soon as he could. Benjamin was a blessing because he could physically alter the elements. The other covens and nomads would be trickling in throughout the rest of the week, and Alice foresaw that unlike last time, there would be no conflict with any of our guests at the very idea of standing up against the Volturi.

I was introduced to several vampires that I didn't know. Veronica, Regan, and Cam were American Nomads. They had come across Garrett a number of times and he was able to get a hold of them for this event. It seemed the three of them had a previous grievance with the Volturi as well. Cam's mate, Diana, ignored the rules and created an immortal child. Diana along with the child were destroyed by Aro. Good. Their anger was needed. Though she no longer possessed the strength of a newborn, Veronica was a newborn compared to the rest of the vampires that were located in the house. Her power was especially unexpected as she could project her thoughts to others.

As the covens came into our home, we would go over the plan. Everyone listened to me, Jasper and Carlisle as we dished out the roles that each one would play for the inevitable day. The pack was also beginning to spend a lot of time at the house. They too listened intently over the plan, every single time it was retold, and each time, they tried coming up with different strategies to help solidify a victory. Though the bonds with this new pack was not as strong as with Jake's pack, I still did not wish any harm to any of them, particularly Taylor. It would just kill Renesmee if anything happened to him.

Preparing for war a second time in one lifetime just seemed unreal. Only this time I wasn't so sure that the outcome would be as favorable this time. Everyone was on pins and needles with anxiety, even the shady Romanian vampires, Vladimir and Stefan, only through their anxiety, you could sense that they were eager and hopeful that the Volturi were destroyed in the process. Every vampire that was not a vegetarian went well outside our normal boundaries of 300 miles to hunt.

"The only thing that's troubling me," Zafrina interrupted one night when we were strategizing again, "Why now? Even with this new addition to the guard, why would the Volturi believe they had the upper hand? I mean those who were here the last time, saw how quickly they ran when they realized they were severely out-numbered and gifted." Everyone looked to Alice in anticipation, but she only shook her head in defeat.

"Something's not right. I can see they are on the move, I see the guard, the wives and their witnesses. But vaguely, something is shielding them. I can't quite figure it out."

"Well, though there is reason enough, there is no sense in worrying about something we can't change or possibly know." Carlisle's intelligence never ceased in our most trying times. "In a few minutes, the kids will need to leave for school. As I understand it they will be back shortly as they will be taking their last final today. We will discuss this when they return."

And with that, everyone dispersed to separate areas of the house, though myself and Edward ran back to the cottage. Tomorrow, we may be fighting but today, we had our last day of school. I choose a grey t-shirt dress and black leggings. I paired that up with a light denim jacket and black flat shoes. Edward changed into jeans and a grey t-shirt that clung to his muscles and I immediately wanted to rip it back off. We hurried back to the house to meet up with Alice and Jasper. Renesmee was already in Taylor's truck and waved to me and Edward.

We were soon following behind them down the path and onto the highway to school. Michael got his license over the weekend, so since he was driving Sarah to school, we would just meet them in the parking lot. I chuckled when I realized the only ones that were done with our finals was my family. Everyone else seemed to be struggling, with the exception of Sarah and Michael. They had excellent tutors. The last bell finally rang and everyone bustled out of the classrooms and into the hallway. We said goodbye in the parking lot to Sarah and Michael, somewhat eager to get ready, there still seemed to be a lot to finalize.

"If it helps you relax, you and Michael passed all of your finals!" Alice whispered to Sarah so that Michale couldn't hear. Sarah still didn't know our powers so I'm sure she just chalked that statement to Alice being incredibly nice.

"Have fun at the concert you guys, and take lots of pictures!" I called out to them as we were separating.

"I will! Have fun on your camping trip!" She called back to me. And with that I hoped that I would see my friend again.

As we were driving home, I saw Alice clutch Jasper's arm. Her eyes glazed over and she stared out into another world for all of two seconds. "What did you see Alice?"

"They'll be here in the morning. I still can't see why I can't see them, but I see us in the clearing just as the sun breaks."

I closed my eyes waiting for a sleep that would never come. Morning it is.


	16. Chapter 16: Cleanup

Chapter 16

Even though we knew that the Volturi would be arriving today, everyone was still shocked when Alice broke the news yesterday that they were arriving. I think it was because it just made everything seem more real.

As the time drew closer, everyone got into position. After school yesterday, Jasper and I spent some time in the clearing setting up for a game of baseball. The diamond was considerably larger than what we normally make it but it was just perfect for what we needed it to be for this occasion. Alice took her spot on the pitcher's mound, while me, Edward, and Jasper choose first, second, and third base respectively. Rosalie, Emmett, Renesmee, and Carlisle were going to be up to bat first. Esme always choose to be the referee in our games, she was under the impression that we cheated. The other vampires in the clearing with us: Zafrina, Kate, Eleazar, Carmen, Garrett, Tanya and Irina each divided the remaining positions of the game and choose sides. It didn't matter where they stood, we just wanted to give the impression that we were gathered for a game.

We started the game, but minded to keep the ball controlled within the field. I listened to the surrounding forest for the remaining vampires. They were hiding in the woods along with the wolves. Taylor and the pack came through for us, with the number of vampires that came into the area this time, there were a total of thirty two werewolves, all the size of horses waiting to defend us. Benjamin was using his talent of manipulating the elements in holding back the wind so the scent of the wolves or the unseen vampires could not be detected by the Volturi. Since I knew where everyone was, I was able to project my shield to fit over everyone individually. I checked the shields and made sure that nothing would be able to penetrate them.

When we switched sides, Alice was up to bat first. I watched as the plan I set in motion was being carried out, and she hit the ball so hard that it disappeared at the tree line. We each waited as we heard the ball being caught in the far off distance. I felt a sense of déjà vu as the Volturi were entering the clearing just as James, Victoria and Laurent had.

At the tree line, I could clearly see that Renata caught the ball behind Aro, as everyone were making their way into the clearing. Their précised movements were still similar to the marching of a well disciplined army. They moved so fast and were several yards away within seconds. Renata threw the ball back into our direction, but nobody made a move for it, so it fell limply to the ground.

"Ahhh the Cullen's. How I have missed my old friends, especially you Carlisle." Aro's voice still sent chills up my skin. How could someone so devious be so polite? "I see you have a gathering of sorts."

"Yes Aro." Carlisle was very cold. "The Denali family decided they wanted to come visit us for a spell and so did Zafrina. Since the town would be preoccupied with setting up for the parade today, we decided to play some baseball. I see you have a gathering of sorts as well. What would warrant such a visit from you in this manner? We have broken no rules."

Edward stood beside me and gasped. I cranked my neck to get a better view of what Edward was looking at, and gasped myself. There standing behind the guard, but before the wives, were ten great wolves, just as big as ours. That's why Alice wasn't able to accurately see the Volturi's decisions. Somehow they had acquired their own set of werewolves and were using them to shield themselves. I had to admit that that was very clever of Aro.

"Well, my dear friend, I will get to that in time. Renesmee, that is a beautiful trinket around your neck. Might I have a closer look at it?" Aro inquired. Before she could answer him, he took two steps over into her direction by first base. Edward's body stiffened and I growled and moved to Renesmee's side. I crouched instinctively in front of my daughter as Aro still carefully made his way to her. "Relax Bella. I merely noticed that she is wearing the trinket that I gave to you and Edward as your wedding gift. She truly is remarkable in immortality. Like mother like daughter." Aro raised his hand to my face and lightly touched the side of my cheek. "Edward."

I turned as I watched my Edward walk over to us. Now it was my turn to stiffen, I knew what was going to happen next. And though it pained me to do so, since it left him vulnerable, I pulled the shield that I placed around him back so that Aro could read Edward's mind. Aro held his hand out and Edward promptly placed his in Aro's. I saw Aro's glee that Edward didn't know anything of a way to set up the Volturi. For all Edward knew was that we had guests and we wanted to get a round of baseball in. "Ahhhh." As soon as Aro dropped Edward's hand, I violently snapped the shield around him. I bowed my head and swept my hand across the back of my neck. Veronica saw the signal and immediately started telling Edward the plan. I smiled absently as I saw him looking at me and realizing that I was the one that had put this plan in motion.

"Carlisle, you asked me before why we were here. It has come to my attention that your coven has become quite large." He hissed the word coven.

"My _family _is the same size as it has always been. In fact with the death of Jacob, it is minus one than from when you last saw us."

"Hmmm, Jacob, he was the shapeshifter? How is your alliance with the local natives, I wonder. I do not see them in the clearing."

"I did not know there was a need for them today."

"Nonetheless, I would like to extend an invitation to Bella, Edward, and Alice to join the Volturi. That way your family will become more manageable for your lifestyle of course."

"I do not speak for my children, Aro, but I can tell you my family is quite manageable as it is. You did not need to bother yourself in bringing everyone here, to concern them in matters that are not up to discussion."

"Well it is up for discussion. I'd extend my invitation to all of you, but I really have no need. I just want Bella, Alice and Edward."

"I'm sure you know what our answer will be considering it hasn't changed since the last time you invited us. But I am curious why you would think that it would change." Edward's voice was thick and I was cautious with my movements since Felix seemed to be watching my every move. I nervously gathered and lifted my hair and let it down behind my head, a perfectly normal motion, and Felix put his attention back to the rest of the scene. To Zafrina, the motion was her signal to give the illusion that the guard was in the clearing alone with us, when in fact, our allies moved into the clearing, surrounding them.

Within the next few seconds, I resisted the urge to hold my breath as everyone sauntered into the clearing. Most of them were people that I had come to love as family, especially since my own had passed away. And now, again, they were here protecting me. I wrestled with the very idea that I needed protecting yet again, and now not only was I endangering the lives of my immediate family, now everyone that I had come to know.

"Well that my dear Edward, will present itself in a few moments." Immediately I feared our counterparts had moved in too soon, as Heidi moved into the clearing as well, but I'm assuming that Zafrina saw her before I did because she didn't seem alarmed. Behind Heidi was a group of people, three of whom I recognized as teens from the high school, the Newton kid was among one of them. I didn't know the names of the other kids, but my heart would have stopped at the sight of Sarah's mother within the group. I extended my shield again to include the humans, I didn't want to risk Jane or Alec getting to them.

"Edward."

"I see."

"My dear Cullen's, as you can see, the lovely Heidi has brought guests. And I will kill them and everyone in this pathetic little town." Aro sneered as he was speaking and I wanted to throw up at the sight of Sarah's mom in danger. Marcus' eyes and nose flared up at the sight of humans being brought into the clearing.

As I stood there watching the scene playing out, a thought popped in my head and before I could formulate a plan my mouth opened first. "Excuse me, Aro, Caius, and Marcus. It rather seems to me that you, the guard, your wives and the witnesses have excellent timing, as I'd like to make a formal complaint. And since you are here to judge, I would inquire that you'd permit my complaint be made first." I never heard myself speak with so much authority before.

"Hmmm, a complaint. I am slightly intrigued as to what your complaint is about? Could it be against the Cullen's themselves?"

"No, Aro. It is not against the Cullen's, but more against you! You have exposed us to the likes of humans for a purpose other than feeding on them. This is the type of exposure that you were sworn to protect against and yet here you are flaunting it."

"What makes you think I will not hesitate to kill these puny few?"

"If you must kill them, you must. But I wonder how it would play out to the public, how an entire town was decimated. You have to know that no one in my family would wear one of your black robes. We would be better prepared to fight than join the guard." I was pleased that my words gave Aro pause. He never thought that we wouldn't join him even to save our hometown of Forks.

"Is it possible then that the perfect Cullen's would not join my coven even if it meant to save the very people that they endeavor to be like?" Aro waved a hand and suddenly one of Heidi's captives was being levitated in the air towards Aro. I pushed a separate shield to the guards direction and the man effectively stopped floating towards danger.

"Enough!" Marcus yelled. "Aro you have gone on far too long. Power has been abused in the most gregarious way. This is not our way!"

"Brother, you stand against me in the matter?"

"I am standing for what's due and fair. What right do you have to condemn this town and this coven to death?" Marcus moved closer and closer to Aro almost till they were face to face.

"They are a threat."

Marcus now pressed his cheek against Aro's and whispered, "Like my wife?"

Aro's face went whiter than it possibly could have been. Never in all his existence did he think Marcus would ever find out. Caius stood there listening to the exchange that just took place, as we all were. It was hard to tell if Caius was shocked that Marcus knew of the plot, or that Aro stooped as low as to kill his own sister. The wives gasped at the revelation and somewhere in the clearing was an ear piercing scream that rang out several miles away.

There wasn't enough time for Aro to react before everyone realized who was producing the scream. All the while Marcus moved over to Aro, Demetri matched Marcus' movements over to Sulpicia, Aro's wife. Demetri was ripping her apart, seeing what he was doing, Benjamin lit up the mounds that we disguised as bases, on fire. Zafrina being the closest vampire to Demetri, lifted the illusion and grabbed as many pieces of Sulpicia into the fiery mound.

"A wife, for a wife, my dear brother." Marcus said his peace and I placed my shield to include him and Demetri. As the Volturi received their correct sight back, and saw that they were suddenly surrounded, they could see I meant business about a fight. The fear that fixated on their face quickly changed to determination. There was no running back to Volterra this time.

Caius pointed at the wolves and gave a signal. The wolves started advancing towards us fiercely. I was able to get a better look at them, all ten wolves had fur that was light grey almost white, red eyes. I tested my own shield to make sure there weren't any sneak attacks against me, and when I was confident there weren't, I pulled my personal shield and let Edward hear my thoughts. _"__Edward, ask Taylor if he can hear the thoughts of the Alpha." _Edward nodded his head in compliance. Kachiri retrieved her bow and arrow and shot one in the shoulder. Our own werewolves stood their ground surround the pack and attacked the remaining nine wolves. It hardly seemed fair that there were thirty two wolves versus nine, but some were only grabbing the pieces and throwing them to the fire as well.

The major secret weapon that they had for us proved to be insufficient to our preparedness. Aro looked at Edward in bewilderment as he realized that he was duped again. Caius was no longer smug about the werewolves, and now only realized the true danger that they were in. I could see everyone divvie-up who they wanted to take out. Alice, Kate and Irina were looking at Jane. Jane the blond witch was frightened and cowering behind Aro. No longer concerned with Jane, Vladimir and Stephen fixated on Aro; while Carlisle and Edward paired up for Caius. Emmett and Felix were wrestling on the ground and Rosalie was ripping apart Caius' wife, Athenodora., along with Esme. Everyone, save for me, was busy with an opponent. I wasn't allowed to fight. Carlisle thought it best that I stay away from the fight since I was protecting everyone with my shield. I hated feeling useless.

I saw creatures on both sides going down. The Romanians went after Aro and they had the upper hand for most of their battle. In synchronization, they pounced on Aro, and tackled him to the ground. Vladimir almost had a grip on Aro's arm, when suddenly, Aro swung Stefan into a fire pit. Vladimir in shock, lost his composure for a tenth of a second too long and Aro notoriously ripped his head off. Aro finished Vladimir up and was headed in my direction.

I couldn't fight, I was too clumsy as a human to learn and Edward refused to teach me when I became a vampire. There was no need. But I refused to run while my family was here fighting for me. I looked around at my family. I suppressed a laugh at Heidi, her long flowing hair was being ripped out by Renesmee. Heidi wasn't even concentrating on the fact that Renesmee had moved from her hair and was now breaking her neck in one swift movement. I could tell Emmett was playing around with Felix. I think it almost disappointed him that Demetri was on our side now, he'd always been eager to fight him, so he may have settled for Felix. Jane was done for. I could see Irina and Kate gather the last of her remains into a pit. Alice had joined Jasper with Santiago. The clearing was filling up with smoke, but that didn't bother me. I couldn't see Edward.

I turned to look for my husband, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Two of the newcomers were being thrown into the fire by Corin. I was barely able to make out the once alive faces of Cam and Regan. Nahuel's sister Xochitl was kneeling on the ground facing me. But as I felt Aro's hand gripping my neck, I could see she wasn't just kneeling. A silver blade had pierced her torso and she simply fallen to her knees. I focused my eyes and saw Afton slide his sword from Xochitl's body and slice off her head.

"Not even with all your family dying around you, will you join?" Aro hissed. It was very apparent that he was quite disturbed that his plan was not accordingly. "Not even to save your own existence?"

I closed my eyes trying to think of something clever to say but I couldn't with all the screams. I opened my eyes and at the corner of my left eye, I saw a blur rushing towards us. The blur knocked into Aro who in turn lost his grip on my neck. I looked up to see who my rescuer was, though I knew without knowing. Edward was crouched on the ground waiting for Aro to get up. A growl escaped Edward's lips as he leaped over Aro's head, and brought his neck backwards. I ran up alongside Aro and bit into his neck and tugged at his right arm. It sounded as if fabric was ripping and I vowed that after this day I would never hear that noise again. I flung the arm to the side towards second base. In an epic battle such as this, leave it to me and Edward to take apart our biggest challenge together. We continued tearing what was left of Aro's body and throwing them to the flames. I wanted to make sure that there was nothing left of him, but Edward assured me that he was a goner.

As I recomposed myself, I checked my shields to see if they held. Throughout my scuffle with Aro, I didn't realize that the werewolves that the Volturi brought with them, were now fighting alongside our team, at least what was left of them. I had counted six grey wolves left. I surveyed the clearing again and saw the damage that was inflicted on both sides. I couldn't see Afton, or Corin anymore. I could only hope that someone had taken care of them. Peter was fighting Alec, the last remaining threat of the Volturi back towards a pit. There weren't even too many witnesses left. Most of them I saw were too scared to join a battle that wasn't theirs, and ran off. Those that stayed to fight, met a burning end. Charlotte went over to help her mate, and they finished Alec.

I walked up behind Carlisle as he was kneeling over one of the wolves. "How long will it take for him to heal?" His bone was sticking out of his leg. I wasn't a doctor but I knew it was bad.

"He'll probably be fine by the end of the day. It looks a lot worse than it really is." Carlisle started rambling to Edward about the break in his leg, and I looked all across the field. Very few on our side died in the battle. Benjamin was injured a bit but he'd heal fine. At the moment he was bringing down some rain to douse the fires. But the Volturi lost so much. Besides their leaders, Aro and Caius, everyone else that sided with them had perished as well, including the two vampires that accompanied Jane on her visit to us. In fact, the only ones left were Marcus, Demetri, and Renata. I noticed that our wolves were completely intact. Renesmee and Taylor were reuniting, as were the other couples.

"Carlisle? What are we going to do about them?" I turned my head in the direction that Edward was inclining. There at the tree line, I saw all of the humans huddled together in fear. Well most of them, the Newton kid wet himself and even though they were scared, no one wanted to touch him.

"Hmm, it seems Aro presented a problem. Edward reach into my bag and get out a few syringes and the bottle of Verazicodone. Verazicodone is a very strong narcotic. In fact, the patient will probably wake up in about 7 hours, throwing up and a mild case of diarrhea. They'd hardly remember anything, but I think if we put them in their beds, what they may remember will be a dream to them. " He looked over to Alice, who nodded.

"No one will give us any trouble. Do the Newton kid first, when he notices what you're doing he'll commit as much as possible to memory. He still gets it wrong, and people will dismiss him, but he'd make a lot of noise in the meantime." Alice returned to her embrace with Jasper. We apparently weren't in the clearing.

Edward and Carlisle filled the syringes with the medicine, and ran over to the gathering. Before the last human, Sarah's mom was struck, the Newton kid was knocked out. Carlisle caught Newton, I rushed over to get Sarah's mom, while Emmett, Rose, Edward, Alice and Jasper grabbed someone else.

"Follow their scents back to their houses and lay them in their beds." Edward said. And we all split up. I ran through the woods without following a scent since I knew where Sarah lived. I ran to the house, careful that no one saw me. No one was inside. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was now a quarter after 10. Sarah and Michael would have left for Seattle by now. Her dad and little sister were probably wondering where Mrs. Moore was so they'd be back soon to check on her. I laid her in her bed and went to the medicine closet in the bathroom. I found the Pepto-Bismol and fed some down her throat. I hoped that would help with the side effects later.

I ran back to the house where everybody else was gathering. The few vampires that had someone to mourn had already left, but the rest were here to celebrate and go over their kills. I went up into Edward's arms and I didn't want to let him go. I saw Marcus, followed by; Renata and Demetri walk over to Carlisle. They spoke earnestly for a moment, before beckoning the vampires to listen.

"I wish that none of the vampires had left, but there seems to be a matter that needs to go up for discussion." Carlisle said, his arms were raised as he was asking everyone to settle down. What could he possibly need to talk about that was so urgent?

A/N: Okay my longest chapter yet, I hope you liked it. Sorry if the fight scene wasn't what you expected, I'm not used to writing fight scenes at all and I have no training in fighting, so whatever. I'll be writing at least one more story for twilight, once i finish up with this one, but it may take awhile. i have several stories in my head so keep a look out!!


	17. Chapter 17: Checks and Balance

Chapter 17

We gathered in the living room because there were so many vampires to even attempt to cram into the dining room. Emmett, Rose and Edward still hadn't returned from placing the hostages back in their beds so that it seemed that they weren't feeling good from some bug, and took a nap. Edward was now the last one to return to the house and when he arrived he quickly searched out a spot by me on the armrest of the loveseat. He started rubbing my back and I really wanted this meeting to be over.

Marcus and Carlisle stood in front of the T.V. while Esme choose to seat herself in the Lazy-Boy. Demetri and Renata stood close to each other. In fact, Demetri was holding, no cuddling Renata in a way that Edward was to me, or Carlisle to Esme. Even though I made it a habit to stay as far away from the Volturi, I never once saw that Demetri and Renata were a couple. I wondered if her love for Demetri was the reason she fought on our side, or if she knew of his and Marcus' defection or if she knew and agreed with the reason. I was thinking that it was the former, since she was always in close proximity to Aro, he would have known Marcus' plan. Though then again, Renata was shield like me, so who knows.

I could see from Renesmee's face that she was worried about Taylor. On the field, he phased back into his human form, and there was a deep gash going down his right arm. Carlisle tried to assure her that he would be fine, and that the stitches would probably only need to be in for about a half an hour. Werewolves heal very fast. My thoughts were that she was just anxious to see him again. Esme figured that with everything that needed to be discussed tonight, that it would probably be best if the werewolves went back to the reservation. If there was anything that concerned them, then we'd just fill them in later.

While the wolves were at La Push, the six werewolves that remained from Aro's pack were huddled together in the corner of the room. I took a moment to process their appearance. In wolf form, they were all light grey with red eyes. However, as humans, they were very tall men, maybe even taller than the tribe, and they each had blonde hair blue eyes. The features in their face were boxy and sharp, very distinguished.

"Well my friends, it seems today finds us in a new order." I could hardly believe that Marcus' words were directed towards us. But there he was, in our home no less, addressing us as if we were on a team. Well now that Aro and Caius were dead, and he helped in that matter, I guess we were. "But before we begin, there is much to discuss. First the werewolves, excuse me, shapeshifters, that were acquired by Aro from Norway, was it?" Marcus looked at the bunch expectantly.

The werewolves that flanked the tallest looked up as well. "Yes that is correct. Norway is from where me and my brothers hail from."

"Well that settles it. I release you from whatever bond that Aro had over you. You may all go back to your homes."

"With all due respect, this Aro that you speak of, has made threats against us and our families, yet he still proceeded to killing everyone and everything that we loved. Forgive me, but there is no home to return to."

"I'm sorry, please forgive me. I don't know where my manners are. My name is Carlisle Cullen, and this is my home. And you are?"

"Henrick."

"Well, Henrick, as you saw we are on fairly good terms with the local pack of shapeshifters. Maybe you'd consider staying with them or just stay in the area till you figure out what you want to do? I believe the Alpha, Taylor, will be back within the hour. You may speak with him of your desires."

"Yes we will remain here, but for the time being, my brothers and I would like to hunt." Carlisle nodded his head in agreement, and the Norwegian pack filed out of the house after their leader.

Before speaking again, Marcus waited a few moments to make sure they were out of hearing range. "Alright now that that is settled. Now is the matter of government." Marcus paused to look at the crowd that was before him. "In it's true form, the Volturi acted as the executive level for vampires. Before the Volturi, even the Romanians, were a form of government, though it was chaotic at times. All that is now left of the Volturi is the three of us." Marcus looked at his counterparts who both looked down in mourning for the ones that they helped kill.

"What I believe Marcus is saying," Carlsile started, "is that though the Volturi is no more, there still needs to be a checks and balance."

"I think it is important that there is a governing body for our race. I mean you saw what happened a hundred years ago with that, err Victoria and her newborn army." Marcus stated, however several of those present weren't aware of the altercation. Emmett of all people was the one that wanted to retell the story. He though it was hilarious that even though I was such a powerful vampire now, at one point I was a clumsy, magnet for danger human. I wished I still had the strength of a newborn to teach him a lesson.

"There are a few options, I suppose, to this dilemma. We can hold elections or we can simply choose the replacements for Aro and Caius. I am ancient, and at this moment there really isn't anything I would like to do, so if it pleases everyone, I will remain in Volterra." Everyone listened to the words that were coming out of Marcus' mouth.

"Marcus, with all due respect I'd like to make one change." I was shocked when I realized that it was Nahuel's voice that spoke up. He's normally very quiet and reserved. "I have studied different government forms and terms, and I've always been impressed with the way the United States handled theirs. I say we should do elections, however, only for a certain term."

"Nahuel, that is an excellent idea. We've all heard what happened with the Romanians and now the Volturi. Allowing one group to be the sole source or power will go to their heads." Carlisle agreed. I wasn't liking the way this was going. I knew everyone would think of Carlisle seeing as he was the leader of the infamous Cullen clan. Afterall, Aro was scared of him, and even tried to destroy his family not once but twice. "Maybe the term could be 50 years?" Everyone in the room nodded their head in agreement.

"Then I guess we are with one accord. Do we have any candidates?" All the vampires were silent for this moment. No one wanted to throw their name for nomination, but were eager to agree to something like this.

The silence was deafening to my ears, and out of habit I started fidgeting. Edward pulled me closer to him to try to calm me down, and I instantly felt calm, not because of Edward's touch but because of Jasper's gift. I looked at him graciously and I could see in his eyes that he was thinking the same thing that I was. Carlisle was the likely candidate for this nonsense.

"We'll go." I looked up in the direction that the voice came from. Without even looking, I knew the voice but I couldn't believe it. "We've been bored for quite sometime anyways." It couldn't be true. Emmett and Rosalie were now walking up towards the front of the room and standing next to Marcus.

"No!" I couldn't help screaming. I didn't want to say goodbye to my brother and sister. Even if it was temporary.

"Bella, we're not going to school, and there really isn't anything for us to do." Rosalie walked over to me, and was now hugging me. "I'm bored, there's nothing in the world that I want to see right now. This will be something different. Besides, can you imagine Emmett in a black robe?" I chuckled at the thought. Knowing him, he'd probably walk around with nothing on underneath. Maybe that was the allure of what Rose liked.

"Marcus, but why do they have to go to Volterra? Why can't we stay together in Forks, and all of us govern or whatever it is you need?" I was still screaming, and I think that if I could, tears would be coming down my face. It was hard as it was to get the sentence out the way I needed it to come out.

"And let history repeat itself? Out of the question?" Marcus screamed back. "I think everyone can agree that this was a bloody war and everyone on both sides lost mates that they cared about. The power of the executive order or vampires is too great for one person or coven."

"But we aren't a coven! We are a family and out of everyone here, besides the Denali's, we are the most human like. We never even wanted the power, and I think everyone could agree that with every attempt to kill us, we're the ones that despised the power the most!" Everyone looked around and started mulling over my argument. No one in the room could dispute that out of everyone there, we had more reason to hate the Volturi for what they were. "Marcus, please?" I begged. "Let the Cullen's as a whole be the governing body as you call it."

Marcus was trying to stare me down, and I was staring at him back. I was a pretty stubborn human, and I was a very stubborn vampire. Out the corner of my eye I could see Edward focusing on something, but Emmett's body was blocking my view. Edward's brow slowly relaxed and I could see my favorite crooked smile.

"Marcus?" Alice. She must have been having a vision, that's what Edward was focusing on. He was seeing her vision.

Marcus broke his stare first and cocked his head over to Alice's direction. "What?" He growled, but he was immediately embarrassed by his reaction and straightened his composure. "Forgive me, young Alice. What?"

"I think what Bella is proposing is actually a good idea. In fact I know it is because I've seen it." I couldn't believe it, Alice came through for me again! I turned to look at her in disbelief?

"What? Really?" I asked her in utter surprise.

"Really!" She shrieked and started jumping up and down. The vampires in the room that weren't accustomed to Alice's excitement were taken aback. Those that were, mainly the Cullen's, the Denali's and Zafrina, simply laughed.

"Marcus, I agree with them. Let them govern for a change and enjoy your existence for a change." Demetri spoke up. "Dad, you deserve it. After how many centuries that you devoted to the Volturi. Don't try to recreate it by forcing someone to serve something they hate." He looked at Marcus with pleading eyes.

"Marcus, if this is what my children want to do and what everyone here is in agreement with, we'll do it. Old friend, I agree after everything Aro and Caius put you through, you do deserve it. Maybe even find a new wife?"

"Oh he will, I plan the wedding!" Alice was in a double whammy of excitement, she now has a wedding to plan. "Just stay in Forks, she'll show up eventually." Alice was so sure of it. If I gambled, I would never bet against Alice.

Marcus started thinking everything over. A lot has happened and it wasn't even noon yet. "Okay, I'll stay in Forks. Maybe a new life is what I do need. On one condition, I'm not living in this house am I? No offence but your house is a bit crowded."

"No we'll find a place for you. Demetri, Renata, will you be staying as well?" Carlisle asked. No doubt he was figuring out a cover story for the rest of Forks. I, ,yself was amazed that Marcus would agree to living in Forks. Compared to his previous arrangements, it was very public.

Demetri and Renata looked at each other and the love between them was so apparent that I think even Jasper was nauseous. How did I miss that before? "No, we'll stop in to visit from time to time, but I think we want to travel together before we settle anywhere.

Once living arrangements started being settled, the various covens started to excuse themselves from the meeting. Hoping never to return again for such a battle. They all agreed that they would pass along to any vampire the met up with that there indeed was a new regime in charge. And their name was Cullen.


	18. Chapter 18: Safe

Chapter 18

If I was a human, I would have thought today's events were very overwhelming. Heck, I'm a vampire and I still thought they were overwhelming. I excused myself to walk the Amazonian coven to the door before they left. I said goodbye to my friends and they expressed how pleased they were with the outcome of the vote. Nahuel, his aunt, his father and his two sisters left with them. I could see that Nahuel was upset that his eldest sister was one of the ones that perished today. From his birth he's suffered so much lost and up until a hundred years ago, he believed he was the cause of it. No, that was my burden. If it wasn't for the fact that Aro had his sights on me and my family, so many vampires would still be alive. Though when I thought about it, the vampires that were on our side, didn't die in vain. We defeated Caius and his power hungry brother, Aro. And now everyone left standing had a chance to live in peace.

By now, it was a little after eight p.m. and I decided I wanted to check on Sarah's mom to see how she was. I called out to Edward in my mind and let him know where I was going to be, and started up my bike. The entire ride over, I replayed the fight scene in my mind. Was there anything that I could have done to prevent so many good vampires from dying? Well maybe not the Romanians, they gave me the creeps still. Before I knew it, I was at Sarah's house.

I could hear from the driveway that Sarah was home. She had just finished cooking some soup for her mom. I knocked on the door and waited till Sarah's little sister opened the door for me.

"Bella! How are you? Sarah said you guys went camping."

"Yeah we just got back in not too long ago. Some of our cousins are still here, but to be honest with you I wish I was here for the parade." Figuring the alternative of a bloody vampire battle, I was definitely telling the truth.

"Oh no you don't. There were a few people that got sick. It was only about six people maybe, my mom was one of them. She's upstairs now. She said she woke up this morning fine, and was ready to go to the parade, but she must have blacked out or something, because she couldn't remember a thing. All she knew was that she needed the bathroom really quick. My dad thinks that she must have taken some Tylenol and Pepto-Bismol because he saw the bottle by the bed. But we heard that other people weren't so lucky of having the Pepto-Bismol and have been puking their guts out."

"Oh my, is your mom okay?" I asked, I hoped Sarah's sister couldn't tell I was faking surprise. Despite what anybody said, I thought I was still a terrible actor.

"Yeah, she's upstairs resting. Sarah just brought her some chicken noodle soup." She turned her head towards the steps, "Sarah! Bella's here!"

"Thanks kid." I called as she turned to go down to the basement. Sarah bounded down the steps and ran to give me a hug.

"Bella! Oh my gosh, I wish you could have been to the concert. They were phenomenal! Thank you so much. Michael really loved it too. We got to take pictures with them. Everything was so amazing." Sarah was rambling again, which I always thought was the most adorable thing ever.

"Your sister told me about your mom, is she fine?"

"Oh yeah. The headache she had when she woke up is already gone, and she's not throwing up anymore. She's just mainly happy that it's not coming out of the other end now. Oops sorry, I guess you didn't need to know all that huh?"

Ordinarily, I wouldn't need to know, but today I was grateful that Sarah was volunteering this information. "No not at all, lady." We both laughed and she told me more about the concert. And I told her how uneventful our camping trip was.

I stayed with Sarah and her family for about an hour before heading back home. I went home to find the house empty save for Edward.

"My love," he greeted me. "How's Sarah and her mom?"

"They're fine, Sarah's mom is feeling better and Sarah had a great time at the concert today. Where is everyone?" I looked around and listened, the house was definitely empty.

"Marcus agreed to give our vegetarian way a try while he stays in Forks. Otherwise he said he'd just hunt out of town. But at least for now he's going to try it. Everyone went out hunting with him. And interesting enough, the Norwegians are staying as well. They think that the Quileutes have a lot to teach them."

"Edward how is that even going to work? They stand out more than we do, more than the Quileute Pack and they live here for crying out loud." The supernatural population in Forks was growing by the minute it seems.

It only took a few minutes for Edward to explain the cover story, and I listened intently. "Edward, this could work." I said as we walked to the cottage. Hand in hand, I let down my shield and let him know how much I loved him.

A/N: Yes I know this is a short chapter to end the story. But I'm already eager to start another story, but I didn't want to until this one wrapped up, so you get the point right? Anyways, this was my first fanfic, and to be honest with you, I'm just glad there were people that actually liked my story enough to review it! So thank you and I dedicate this story to ya'll. And to keep this from sounding any more like an award show (haha) I hope to see you at my next story soon. (Don't know when I'll start publishing it yet though so please be patient)

Thanks,

Jshai


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